


The Wolf Brothers

by BetweenNightmares



Series: The Wolf Brothers [1]
Category: Life Is Strange 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Aftercare, Hand Jobs, Hurt/Comfort, Incest, Jealousy, Loss of Innocence, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Other, Puberty, Romance, Underage Drinking, Underage Sex, Underage Smoking, diazcest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-01-21 07:44:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21295973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetweenNightmares/pseuds/BetweenNightmares
Summary: Formerly known as ‘Dreams, Nightmares, and Everything Between.’ Written as homage to ‘In a Wild, Wild World’ by NotEasilyOffended.The story of the two Wolf Brothers told under an incestuous lens. Daniel wants nothing more than to be with his brother, but Sean knows that with the cops on their trail and the taboo nature of their relationship that it isn’t quite as simple as the little wolf would like to believe.
Relationships: Daniel Diaz & Sean Diaz, Daniel Diaz/Sean Diaz
Series: The Wolf Brothers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1644673
Comments: 99
Kudos: 175





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [noteasilyoffended](https://archiveofourown.org/users/noteasilyoffended/gifts).

> Thank you all for your love and support of this story, it really inspires me to keep going.
> 
> I want to add a reminder that this story is intended to be read after reading ‘In a Wild, Wild World’ by NotEasilyOffended.

**The Wolf Brothers**

**BetweenNightmares**

‘_daaad... dad... Where are we_?’

Sean awoke to a small body shuddering against his own. It was Daniel, still in the throes of another nightmare about their dad. Those came almost every night, and when they did, Sean knew it brought him one night closer to breaking down and telling Daniel the truth.

“Daniel! Hey bro, wake up!”

He sat upright on their blanket and placed his hand against a small shoulder in the dark.

Daniel stirred again, only this time, he sat upright too with a drowsy and confused glaze over his eyes. It was only in the gentle glow of their crackling fire that he could see the remnants of some almost-tears that had formed there.

”Sean? Sean? What happened... Where’s dad?”

”It’s okay! You just had a bad dream. That’s all...”

Daniel paused.

“Sean? Where... Where are we?” He was looking around, not recognizing anything about their campsite. Not the fire they’d collected logs for, the rock ledge they gazed up at clouds on, or even why he wasn’t back in his bed right now - perhaps surprised to find that this reality wasn’t the dream instead.

“Right here... In the park. Remember our amazing fire?” He asked, hoping he wouldn’t have to _expl_\- lie again. Every time he had to he felt like Daniel was believing him less and less, but what else was he going to do? He had to wait, at least until they made it out of these woods before he sat down with him.

“Mmmm, yeah.... Are we okay?” He asked quietly, and Sean could tell that he was still a bit shaken. Shaken and exhausted, he was too, but he tried his best to hide it by shifting his hips a bit closer, causing Daniel to look away.

“We’re fine... I’m right here... Don’t worry.” Sean whispered.

”Okay, I won’t... As long as you’re here...”

”Go... Go back to sleep... You need your rest...” Sean eased Daniel’s shoulders back down against the blanket. “But I might have another scary dream.” He simpered, sounding more than a little afraid.  
  
“You won’t. I’m here. Just... Close your eyes...” He tucked closer as Daniel shifted onto his side. He took the opening to secure an arm over his little wolf and hug his body closer to his own.

He had forgotten how much he missed the smell of their home, or that he was able to pin it down as any particular thing until he was this close to Daniel. It was the detergent their father used, and that warmth, of no scent at all until he’d been somewhere else a while. Each day it was more faint, losing itself to dirt and sweat.

”Thanks, Sean... I’m glad you’re here...”

”Goodnight Daniel...”

They both drifted off to sleep soon after. Their aching bodies were reason enough to try before the sun rose in a few hours and they’d be back on the road again...

* * *

In his own dream he was back in Seattle too, but not at home. He was at the party he didn’t want to go to, with the girl he wanted to go with. Only, instead of laying on the blanket - they were underneath it, warm, and snuggling by the fire.  
  
Her body was warm too, soft, yet firm where the bottom of her shorts were planted in his lap. He had his arms around her belly, moving gently with her to the soothing music of the dying party.

Did he still have that condom? It should have been in his bag... But where was that? Looking around, he realized he didn’t know where it was, or where Daniel was. Daniel? He wasn’t here... This was all wrong.

'_Fuck me, where did he go_?!'

_Panic_.

Sean opened his eyes slowly, only just faintly hanging onto the dream as Daniel squirmed beneath him. Hips were shifting against hips, his arm and leg were thrown entirely over him, trapping Daniel there under his weight.

He retracted them, yawned, then stretched before curling back up and focusing his eyes on the back of Daniel’s head. He was waiting for him to come into focus when Daniel turned around to face him, looking as though he’d been awake for a while now.

‘_We made it another night. Now for the rest of our lives_...’ he thought, attempting to offer Daniel what little enthusiasm he could muster by way of a cheap smile.

“Everything cool?”

Daniel shifted his shoulders awkwardly, then nodded. “Yeah, no more nightmares. I so don't want to walk again though.” His voice was small, tired, and a bit strange in a way that Sean didn’t understand. Daniel propped himself up on an elbow and fixed upon the remnants of last night’s fire.

“We’ll get some food today, promise. And your chock-o-crisp.” He added with a chuckle, ruffling his brother’s hair before sitting up, earning at least a fraction of the mood he'd hoped for.

When he did begin to rise, he became acutely aware of the strain against his jeans and the ache of having not slept in something more comfortable. All he could think to do was think about everything but what he was most aware of and eventually it’d go away.

'_And maybe a nice clean bathroom for big bro to fap in peace?_'

'_Dude stop_...'

Normally he would deal with it before he got up, during, or by having a long shower, but out here with Daniel there was nothing he could do. And he hadn’t, not since they began wandering out here. It became more distracting with each passing day.

It showed in his sketches, in the lines that weren’t so straight and the scrawls that lacked perspective. He drew his best when he could relax, but it was so damn hard when his hormones compounded on all the aches and hunger and worry he was already dealing with.

Daniel was the lucky one right now, as the saying went: ignorance was bliss.

He couldn’t decide if Daniel was as ignorant as he seemed though. There was a certain furrow to his brows that Sean hadn’t seen thus far, not once. It was the same face he gave when he kicked Daniel out of his room time and time again.

Sean watched as he squirmed onto his feet and went off toward the bushes.

Frustration? Anger? Maybe a little sadness? Some of those, but most of all it looked like confusion and guilt.

‘_Did he remember_?’

* * *

The Three Seals Motel wasn’t exactly the place he had in mind to have his talk with Daniel, but as Brody had put it, it was better to get through it now than to hold off until later. There would never be a good time to do it he realized, not this, and maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad when it finally came up if he hadn’t waited - and ultimately, allowed Daniel to find out through a news channel about the shooting.

Compared to that, ‘_the other_’ talk was easy, even if it had been both monumentally awkward and a failure on his part. Daniel was way too young to learn about that, or deal with what happened back in Seattle.

It took him hours of holding Daniel and crying with him until _he_\- they could both calm down enough to talk about it, and they talked about it for even more hours to come, face to face in Daniel’s bed. The sun was nearly rising by the time they’d gotten anymore sleep, another reason he was thankful for Brody. The sleep they’d gotten during the drive here was the most he knew either was going to get for the night.

When morning came he pulled himself out of bed before Daniel had woken up, taking care to keep from stepping on any broken glass or sharp shards of wood that broke loose during Daniel’s episode last night.

Mushroom lifted her head off Daniel’s thigh giving him up as he crept away, sketchbook in arm, watching him as he carefully tiptoed to the bathroom door.

”Sean? Where are you going?”

Daniel’s sleepy voice croaked out from his bed. He was nearly sat up, and peering through the darkness at him.

”Just going to wash off before we have to go, enano, that cool?” He asked, facing back at him with concern. He’d really hoped not to wake him up before he had to.

He grumbled something first, then eventually whispered ”Okay... Love you, Sean.” Slouching back down and pulling the covers back up over his shoulder. He looked pitiful like that.

”Get some more sleep, I’ll wake you up when I’m finished.” He encouraged, then opened the door and attempted to close it as quietly as possible.

Sean trudged over to the sink and held the edge of the counter, his knuckles turning white from how hard he was gripping it. In the mirror, a strange reflection stared back at him.  
He hardly recognized himself in it, he was dirty and worn out. It was as if he’d run a marathon each day since leaving, and he for sure felt like he did. His nose was bruised too, bloody, from the kick he’d received from that asshole at the gas station.

Absently, he moved over to the toilet and sat down for a couple of minutes, pouring through the pages and looking at old sketches so that he didn’t have to think about anything to do with ‘_now_.’ The concert with Lyla, some doodles of himself as the world around him burned, track meets, dad grilling barbecue for them. All of the things that filled up his life.

Everything lead to Daniel with every page he turned. He was the focus of his entire world now, the only thing that seemed to matter besides getting far away from here, which hasn’t always been the case. The change showed more and more as the pages went on. Sure he’d appear in a page or two, but the further Sean turned the more often he appeared, until his sketches were nothing but Daniel, the places they discovered during their journey, and the thoughts scribbled into the corners that he hardly recognized as being his own.

There was Daniel sleeping underneath that bridge outside of Seattle, his arm tucked under his head and his body curled into a ball on the ground. Only their blanket separating him from the gravel.

'_Daniel... He had no idea how he got there, I carried him for miles in the dark. I had to lie through my teeth and tell him we were going on a surprise trip. I guess that's not a complete lie. It's a good thing he was still dazed, he didn't question it that much.... I still don't remember what happened after dad was shot, but I know it had to do with Daniel’s...._'

Another depicted him sprawled out on his back after their feast at that backwoods diner, shirt raised over his belly and legs spread wide with satisfaction. Probably the only happy one of him lately aside from the one he’d gotten to do last night while watching TV.

He was able to be cute, sometimes. This was the Daniel he wished he could see more often, not the down in the dumps boy back in the other room. It wasn’t his fault, he reminded himself, he didn’t like himself right now either.

Attached was the receipt.

_'Way out of budget, but we'd been walking for hours, and Daniel needed this real bad. So did I...'_

How were they going to do this? They only had so much money, and so far to go.

Sean rose up to his feet then carefully eased out of his hoodie and then the shirt underneath. He felt the dirty fabric peel off of his skin as though it had become a new layer of it, and watched as it crumpled on the floor with an unnatural stiffness.

Underneath was a large and fist sized bruise swollen against his abdomen, that too courtesy of Hank Stamper. Touching it made him wince in pain, and instead he began to kick off his jeans. They were dirty, but his boxers were far worse.

'_Dad's running shoes have nothing on these_.'

They downright reeked, and the faded orange material clung to his inner thighs as he began to tug them downward. After kicking them off, Sean shuddered and strode over to the shower and turned the dirty metal dial to the hottest level.

Once steam started to billow up from the base of the tub, Sean swung a leg over the ledge and hopped inside - pleased to feel the scalding water begin to cleanse his weary skin. Sean wasted no time in beginning to scrub his body and chip away at some of the grime that had formed there. The Black and brown sediment that caked his hair slowly began to fill the bottom of the tub as water rinsed over his body, adding to what Daniel had already left behind.

'_I call him dirty, but I think I might have him beat_.'

Sighing, he rested his head against the wall opposite of the shower head and let the water beat down over his back, massaging it and finally offering him some means of relaxation. Though the longer he stood underneath it, the more aware of the heat that filled his loins and swelled them he became.

Sean raised his forearm to the wall and tucked his head, peering down as a wrist met his hip and a hand enclosed around his length, which felt much better than it should have and perhaps certainly because it really had been so long...

He closed his eyes and began to pump himself, working into finding a rhythm to something that shouldn’t feel as foreign to him as that something did right now.

His thoughts tried to return to that dream, of Jenn, by the fire with her in his lap. And so they did, at first, but the longer he tried to hold onto it, the more it slipped from his fingers. That was the very nature of a dream. They shifted to those sketches of Daniel, the way his shirt rose to reveal an inch or two of his belly. The way his hair fell against his neck as it hunched watching TV...

Sean opened his eyes and stopped, horrified, guilty, attempting to rationalize that it wasn’t his fault for gravitating towards his younger brother. Daniel was his only contact for days, the only person he talked, walked, and thought about - he had to be.

It wasn’t his fault he had hormones, and no way to keep himself from the spiraling thoughts stemming from that need to release - but being so unable to... Or so he told himself.

Ultimately, Jenn was a sweet dream, and Daniel was a cruel reality.

His eyes closed, he was desperate to not go on to think - _think_ \- **_think_**... each time he thought of the word ‘_think_’ his hand ‘_schlucked_’ back over his length, that rhythm finally forming between himself and his hand.

Steadily he reached that summit, and he knew that once he got there that this torture would end... But right as he reached it - approached that summit, all he could see was Daniel standing there to meet him. He could smell his hair and feel as his baby brother arched back against his jeans. The way he had squirmed this morning—

“STOP!” Sean nearly shouted, grabbing the head of his cock in his fist with such force that it was almost painful, in an effort to keep that from being the moment he came.

He failed.

The squeeze had only served to push him over that illusory edge and begin to twitch and ooze and to fill up his foreskin with sheer regret, fingers refusing to unclamp.

Sean lowered his arm in anguish and covered his mouth, both disgusted with himself and scared shitless about what it meant. Releasing his fingers allowed his regrets to symbolically splatter and drain out against the floor of the tub, disappearing down that dark hole. He realized he felt worse now, and that he’d have rather have lived without a brief and cursory satisfaction than to scar himself like this mentally.

'_Shit_.'

His dad was great at fixing things, but he realized that all of his own problems were too late to fix, most of them anyway. He would have to nip this in the bud now, never think about this again and carry on like it never happened. That was the only way, he thought, to maintain what little was left of his peace.

After rinsing himself off, Sean turned off the water and wobbled over to the mirror again, wiping the fog off in order to view himself again. He definitely looked like his normal self now, albeit more exhausted than he'd ever been before.

He took care to dry off and get dressed again very slowly, knowing that the quicker he finished the quicker he'd have to wake up Daniel and find the bus station. He wanted to get out of here, and didn't at the same time. Either way, he reminded himself, they had to be out by 11 am.

Daniel was up by the time he'd gotten out of the shower, and he was a little surprised to find that the darkly-lit room was now soft blue as the sun rose in the east. Daniel was flipping through channels, Mushroom scratching at the front door looking frantic.

"She has to go, me too. You take so long in there... Next time we’ll leave without you." Daniel grumbled a little, but Sean could tell he wasn't really annoyed. "I guess some things never change, huh?" He replied, pulling his hood up over his damp hair as he strolled across the room and packed up what was left of the free shampoo and conditioner.

"We should get going, the earlier we find a bus the better."

Daniel pulled himself out of bed and trudged into the bathroom for a couple of minutes before he returned with a damp face and pulled on his sneakers waiting by the bed. "Ready." He whispered, sleep hanging onto his voice.

Sean nodded and picked up his old backpack, handing it off to Daniel then sliding into the new one Brody gave him. He flipped the TV off and headed for the door, holding it open for Daniel as him and Mushroom passed through.

Heading for the stairs, Daniel broke into a jog to keep up with Mushroom who was bounding for the road. At least she was able to put a smile on Daniel's face. Suddenly he was so grateful Daniel brought her along. Sean laughed a little, speeding up to the two’s pace.

They had made it out of the parking lot without anyone noticing them. Thankfully it was still quite early, not even the office lights were back on yet. He couldn’t have risked turning in the room keys, instead he laid them in front of the office door and bolted.

Mushroom eventually peed near the battered metal bus stop by the road while him and Daniel checked out some destinations. They agreed on the furthest south that this bus would take them.

Daniel squirmed around beside Sean, he could feel his fingers clamp tighter and tighter against the sleeve of his hoodie. “Sean? How are we gonna do this without dad?” He could tell he was on the verge of tears and tried to pull his arm around him.

”I’ll take care of us, Daniel. We made it this far right? We can do this, we’re wolves remember?” Sean offered him a soft shake.

He looked unsure, but nodded and slumped against Sean’s chest.

"We'll be okay enano." He assured to Daniel, who had grown quiet as they sat together, leaning against one another. It was equally the longest and shortest 45 minutes of his life until the bus arrived to take them far far away from there...

_‘I hope..._’


	2. Chapter 2

**The Wolf Brothers**

**BetweenNightmares**

The sound of snow beating against their shelter was far louder than the crackling of the small fire they had going. A storm had come. It was too dangerous for the wolf brothers to venture out, and would remain so until the following day. 

It sounded more like sand to him than snow, the way the blistering wind pelted it at the cabin from all directions. They had found this place weeks ago and decided to stay for a while. It was shabby, but much better and way safer than the shelters they’d checked out before.

Daniel liked it better here too, and they had finally started exploring his powers which grew almost every day. It wasn’t scary to him anymore, like so many other things they had grown used to on their journey. 

The only thing that continued to make him uneasy however, was that cough. It wasn’t getting better.

He knew they couldn’t stay here forever, the plan was still Puerto Lobos, eventually. He just wasn’t sure if Daniel was still on board. He was afraid to even bring it up when he was so happy here. The storm was lucky in that way, they couldn’t leave even if they both wanted to.

Tonight their mattress was yanked against the wood stove, both of their bodies pressed arm-to-arm in front of it as that damned blizzard seemed to find every crack in this place, and blast through them.

Mushroom was underneath their knees and hidden by the blanket, soaking in the shared warmth they created. Occasionally, he’d feel the soft flap of her ears against his ankle.

“So cold, I’m glad I have Mr. Raccoon to keep me warm.” Daniel commented, knocking shoulders against Sean. Up until now he felt like the choice to take that would have haunted him forever, but now he knew he made the right choice. Besides, that asshole deserved worse than a stolen tent and hoodie for what he did to them.

“And that you know how to start a fire now. Good job enano, it’s getting toasty in here.” He smiled a bit and peered into the flames with Daniel, only frowning once Daniel stopped looking his way. It wasn’t Hank Stamper or the fire on his mind now.

‘_We haven’t talked about it... Not since that night, am I the only one freaking out?_’

He was still grilling himself for giving in, for going along with something he knew he should have insisted they drop, but Daniel had pushed him too hard in a moment of weakness, or so he told himself.

He touched his little brother, and he touched- well, _grabbed_ him back. It was wrong, but it was just a means to an end right? To get Daniel off his case, he was supposed to be the hormonal teenager, not his kid brother.

“Do you think this will ever stop? What if it goes on forever and ever, will we be trapped here?” Daniel asked, wiggling his toes before the embers. The sudden question was enough to snap him out of his daze.

“It won’t, these storms last a day or two before they blow on.” He assured, glancing over at the ragged bits of cloth that might have once been socks.

“I’ll get you some new ones next time I go for food, I promise.” He offered, feeling guilty enough not to poke fun at him. 

“You could always warm them up.” Daniel snickered, wiggling them a bit.

Sean shot him a look for lack of amusement. 

“Oh really?"

Sean groaned and turned his body around, causing Mushroom to scoot out from beneath the blanket. knowing he’d brought this on himself he declared, “One big bro toaster coming up.” 

Daniel grinned and turned to face him, the blanket hiding the mountain their knees made together. He scooted further between Sean’s legs and raised his feet, watching as Sean leaned forward and grabbed his ankles.

Sean gave them a quick rub to expel the surface coldness and then raised his shirt over both small feet, shielding them against his abdomen. 

“Your toes are like ice cubes. Man, you really are coldblooded.” He teased, massaging them through his hoodie. 

“Shut up, it’s a freezer in here.” Daniel muttered back through pursed lips. Mushroom had circled the two in search of a new point of entry only to find none. She instead settled for a nice spot snug against Daniel’s hip beneath the fire’s warm glow.

He couldn’t help but look at Daniel, who was peering back at him more closely, it was almost as if he was planning something behind his glowing brown eyes. 

“Hey listen, about the other night...” Sean began, lowering his tone even if there was no one was there to hear them.

“I just wanted to—“ his voice was cut off by an abrupt exhale from deep inside his chest.

Daniel had lowered both of his feet to either side of his lap and rocked them up and down, a pleased sneer replacing his once thoughtful stare.

“Daniel, hey— stop.” He said at once, sounding a twinge annoyed. It was almost as if Daniel knew that he was going to bring this up. It needed to be, and now Daniel was trying to distract him.

Gently, Daniel worked the balls of his heels into either side of his crotch, making him squirm harder and nearly stand up altogether - and he would have had it not been so cold.

“I’m trying to talk to you, seriously, cut it out.” Sean ordered.

“What? I’m not doing anything. You SAID you’d warm my feet...” Daniel responded in kind. The rise in their tones caused Mushroom to get up and move elsewhere altogether. A small whine was all that could be heard before she slumped out of view.

“I was only going to say that we shouldn’t do this every night, you know? We’re not supposed to, we’re brothers.” He said in earnest, causing Daniel to pause in his assault to his loins.

“Whatever, I was just playing around. It’s not like there’s anything else to do in this fucking storm.” He grumbled.

“Daniel...” Sean called, hating how whiny he sounded to himself. It was true, maybe, that he did whine just as him much after all.

He eventually closed his eyes and breathed hard through his nostrils. It wasn’t like he wasn’t enjoying it... Even if he hated himself for it, but what would dad say if he saw the two of them now?

Would he understand that it was just about comfort? Or would he be disgusted? As much as it threw him, he couldn’t imagine it being the latter, or maybe he just couldn’t bring himself to.

“Look enano, I just don’t want it to get weird, okay? Everything is already weird enough.”

“You mean I’m weird.”

“No...” Sean frowned a little.

Daniel shot him a bitter glance. “You’re the one making it weird, it feels good, and it’s fun... Nobody has to know, and no one will.” He mumbled, passing another glance that this time looked more akin to the hurt that existed somewhere deep in the both of them.

He was going to break.

Sean looked at him, wounded too, as both of his small feet eventually started to work themselves against him again. He felt himself begin to harden in his jeans, the ache almost painful as a heel sunk against the base of his cock.

He screwed his eyes shut and looked away, unable to meet the smoldering eyes that continued to burn holes right through him. It felt so good, so much better than the empty pleasure he could provide himself. That was something Daniel had put together all too quickly, at age nine.

“_Sooomebody_ is awful hard.” Daniel commented mischievously. “And you acted like you didn’t want it.” He said, rubbing it in his face which only made his cheeks and earlobes flame further with shame, shame and frustration. 

Unable to take it anymore, Sean pressed his teeth together and dove forward from underneath the blanket, pinning his brother beneath him and freezing him in surprise. “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to pull a bigger wolf’s tail enano?” He asked, staring down at those round eyes.

‘_Good, he’s finally speechless for once... did he want this type of reaction?’_ He wondered, one hand slowly intertwining with one of Daniel’s to raise it above the younger’s head.

Sean took that opportunity to lean down, hovering his mouth just over his exposed neck. He didn’t grant him contact, just the warmth of his breath as he took his other hand and raised it against the other, pinning both now above him.

“And now you’re trapped with a hungry wolf, what are you going to do?” He asked.

_Fear_

_Excitement_

_Pleasure_

_Love_

All of these things had been unmistakable in his brothers eyes. When he looked back into them, Sean realized he intended to make the most of this power over his brother. That was his gift, the one thing Daniel wanted most from him. And he, as his big brother, was the only one who could provide him with that release.

“Please... S-Sean.” Daniel stammered, the sound of distant plates rattling and of Mushroom yapping there in the back of his head, but right now, they were of no concern to the older wolf. His only priority now was to make Daniel forget all of their trauma and focus on what was right there in front of him.

“There you go.” He whispered, keeping his hands pinned with one arm and beginning to brush down his small body with the other using the back of his hand.

‘_He says he’s not a kid anymore, but is he really ready to do what an adult does_?’ He wondered if even he himself was, if that somehow made this all okay.

His palm flattened over the small bulge in his brothers pants. Not with the idle pressure Daniel had used to get a rise out of him, but with a strength to make the other whimper and buck his hips from the pleasure it brought.

Satisfied, Sean released the small and clammy hands and propped himself up on his elbow, face now a few inches above the waistband of his brothers jeans. It was cold, but he could feel the heat the bulge was making underneath.

“What are you doing?” Daniel asked, confused but exhilarated by what he didn’t understand.

“You’ll like it, you’ll see.” He explained, toying with the button of Daniel’s jeans as well as his own. Flashes of the party to be resurfaced in his mind, but he knew that compared to anything that might have happened that night, that this was way more exciting.

‘_Lyla would break my arms if she saw me now_.’

He carefully tugged down Daniel’s jeans then briefs down his narrow hips, leaving his pretty pink cock erect to the open air. He shuddered from the temperature change, but Sean knew he wouldn’t be for long.

Just as fluidly he closed his mouth over the younger wolf’s cock and slurped with his tongue, causing Daniel to cry out loudly. “Y-you put it in your mouth...” Daniel was on his elbows, looking down at him as Sean bobbed his head, lips securing around the tip and tongue sliding beneath his delicate foreskin.

“Sean...” He praised softly, eyes soon closed and relaxed.

Sean wiggled onto his side, his cock now free from the fly of his jeans and stroked idly with his free hand in timing with his mouth upon Daniel’s. In that moment they weren’t cold or hungry or sad or on a dirty mattress, but in shared pleasure. They had escaped the cabin in that moment.

It didn’t take long before the younger started to squirm and murmur, his fingers clawing down on old fabric in search of something - anything to hold onto as the pleasure mounted inside him.

It was building in himself too, far quicker than he thought it could or even should have, making his shoulders tense and nostrils flair against Daniel’s tender skin. 

“Sean, wait— Sean!” The boy’s eyes snapped open in time of his lower body starting to spasm, his tiny cock dripping pearls of seed out into Sean’s swallowing throat as his climax reached.

‘_Fuck_.’ Sean screamed in his head.

Pumping away at himself until he came shortly thereafter, spurts of cum leaping upward and raining down across his hand and Daniel’s thighs all in soft measure.

Sean pulled off of Daniel and rolled onto his back, panting hard just how Daniel was somewhere behind him. He gave his mouth a firm wipe and then began to tuck himself back into his jeans, all the while trying to recover.

“That was... Awesome.” Daniel whispered, trying to pull up his pants past his still half hard cock, using the glow of their dying fire. He paused when he felt the wetness of Sean’s orgasm.

“Ew gross, you got some on me...” he complained, waiting for Sean to crawl up beside him and smudge it off with a torn up rag they had handy for these kind of situations.

The older wolf smirked shamefully and held the blanket open as he lay on his side by the fire.

“Now you know what I had to deal with.”

Daniel elbowed him a little on his way inside the blanket and curled up against Sean’s chest, closing his eyes as both the blanket and a pair of arms wrapped around him. 

‘_Is there any going back now? Or are we in too deep?_’ He pondered, their breathing slowing from shallow and heavy to calm and content. 

Happy to have his mellow brother back, Sean stroked his hair back which only made him curl tighter. 

“I love you, little cub...” He reminded, listening as the wind outside their cabin howled on and on like wolves in the distance.

“I love you too, always.” 

“Sleep tight, if this storm clears by morning we’ll be able to practice tomorrow.” 

A cough soon followed and Daniel smiled against his chest, dozily murmuring something back which Sean couldn’t quite catch. 

Tomorrow he’d bring it up, they had to move on... He knew the answer now, because he didn’t want to leave either. If he could, he wouldn’t mind staying here forever with Daniel. Just the two of them and little shroom... The Wolf Brothers didn’t need anyone else.

Before he knew it he was already half asleep, dreaming of a Raccoon chasing them through a field of pine trees, a pack of hounds joining in toe. He imagined up the hunters that were always hot on their tails, and the running... 

Endless running...

* * *

Snow was falling again, only this time in small doses that Sean quite enjoyed, Daniel as well. It reminded him of past Christmases here with dad, dad and Karen... It was hard not to think about her, she was everywhere and yet nowhere at all.

She was in the pajamas that Daniel wore, the silly princess ones that he teased him about every night. She was in the guilty and long reaching stare that Claire made towards him when she thought he couldn’t see her. She was behind the locked door upstairs, the one Daniel insisted they should peek inside.

“We can’t enano, we’re guests here... How would Claire react if she found out we disobeyed her the first night her and Stephen leave us alone?”

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, staring seriously at Daniel who had been looking at the door from against the balcony railing.

It had been almost two weeks since they arrived here, and only now was it starting to feel remotely like the home their cabin had been. Claire made it seem like the FBI were hiding right outside the front door. She was getting better by the day, but only just barely.

Still, that didn’t keep her and Stephen from heading out for evening Bingo, claiming that after missing it last week that her ‘gals’ would begin to suspect something.

“Okay, okay... It’s just that this might be our only chance. Claire and Stephen _neeeveer_ leave us here alone.” He quipped, folded pajamas in his arms, but Sean wasn’t budging an inch.

“Besides, there’s nothing left in there anyways. She took all her stuff when she left.” Sean knew that sounded reasonable enough to get Daniel off his case, at least for a while. The truth was that he had no interest in sifting through her stuff, there was enough back in Seattle, hidden in the garage. “Come on, in the shower.” He ushered, pushing him playfully by the back toward the bathroom.

‘_Daniel is right, this might be our only chance... And I’m going to make the most of it_.’

Sean smirked to himself and shut the door behind them. It had been ages since they were in a bathroom this nice, every time he came in here he felt a little less grimy, Daniel too, he never used to be so enthusiastic about bathing.

“We’re going to take a shower, together?” He asked, more excited than skeptical. Daniel had been bugging him to do stuff since they got here, but like he said then, they would have to be twice as careful. They weren’t alone in the middle of the woods anymore.

“Yeah, why not? We have at least two hours until they come back.” He explained, noticing the two towels Claire had laid out for them by the sink. “Just as long as you don’t make a mess.”

Daniel made a face at him and outstretched his hand, causing the towels to slowly swirl up into the air and begin levitating toward the shower.

“Superwolf...” He said, trying to sound stern and failing to keep from grinning instead. They were already breaking rules, might as well relax and be thorough tonight.

Sean followed the haunted towels toward the shower and pulled open the curtains, getting the hot water going and time to warm up before he started on removing his clothes.

_‘This is nice,’_ He thought, pulling his shirt up over his head with a strange ease. There was no cling and definitely no smell other than his deodorant. These were the little things he never thought he’d be thankful for.

As he began to unbutton his jeans he noticed that Daniel had barely undressed, instead he stood awkwardly by the toilet and glanced sheepishly over while Sean did alone.

“Okay, what’s wrong? Cold toes again?” He asked, pausing on his zipper.

“Nah, it’s just... We never really get naked is all.” He couldn’t help but be amused at that, and Daniel could surely see it written all over his face.

“I want to though. I’ve wanted to for a while.” Daniel went on to admit before finally pulling off his own shirt. He was so small, Sean hoped he had been eating enough out there.

“Way to make me feel self conscious, we could of if you just asked. You know, there was a time where the idea of me naked would have grossed you out.” He pointed out, kicking off the last leg of his new jeans.

“Shut up, things are different now.” Daniel’s voice was short and haughty while fumbling over the metal button of his own jeans. Sean took the distraction as the perfect time to slide out of his boxers and hop into the shower, which by that point, was all but calling his name in steam.

“The water feels _amaaazing_...” He groaned, letting it pour along his back before he turned to face it head on. He rubbed the rain of hot water over his face and through his dark hair, slicking it back. “Daniel!” 

“I’m coming, h-hey, wait up!” 

Sean could scarcely make out the vague shape of Daniel’s narrow body speeding across the room through the thin curtains. He held them open and allowed him inside under his arm, then closed them behind them.

Daniel shrunk away from the heat at first, then slowly eased into it after Sean broke his tolerance by dropping a cupped handful over his head. It was all an attempt to tame that wild hair of his.

“Hot, how can you stand it this hot?!” He asked, laughing as hair nearly covered his eyes in rich brown curtains.

“You’ll grow to like it, I didn’t always either... But it feels nice right? Not -too- hot?” 

“It’s okay, I’m cold blooded remember?” Daniel smiled and gathered a cupful of the water too, returning the splash attack. 

After they were both thoroughly soaked, Sean began work some shampoo through Daniel’s hair, as well as his own with the remaining suds.

“How long do you think we can stay here?” He eventually asked, eyes screwed shut while soap ran down his face.

“I don’t know. I was hoping at least until after Christmas.” Sean hadn’t really gave it as much thought as he should have. At first the idea was to wait until Daniel was better, now it was until the holidays were over. These were selfless enough reasons, but the idea of returning to the woods was harder to come to grips with than he thought.

Silence from Daniel. It wasn’t that far off, and now part of him regret the promise he’d made not to lie again. Would Daniel even see it that way? He doubted it, and now he wondered whether he was going to enjoy the rest of their stay knowing the point that it was going to end.

“I was just thinking. Claire loves having us here, you know? We just can’t stay here forever, it isn’t safe for any of us.” Sean rinsed the last of the suds from Daniel and then stooped low in order to meet his squinting eyes. “Cool?”

Daniel wiped them and lifted a smile. “I guess so.” That was the face he wished he saw more of. He made a mental note to try and bring it out as much as he could before they did have to go again.

“Hey Sean? I was wondering...” He began, and some kind of awkward shame replaced the happiness on his face just then. 

“What is it?” Sean asked, standing upright, hand on the water dial. Nothing good ever came from a _‘hey, Sean_?’ He knew, but maybe he was feeling lucky today?

“You have hair, down there...” He said matter-of-factly.

Sean couldn’t help but erupt into boisterous laughter, laughter that only made Daniel all the more awkward as he slumped against the side of the shower, scrutinizing Sean’s reaction.

“You’re so cute enano... You’ll get it too, one day. Remember what I said about your body getting ready to become a man?”

He reached down and scratched his fingers through the dusty hair that traveled down his belly, studying Daniel’s reaction as he did so. His fingers brushed away at the water beating over his skin, and finally settled over the thin bed of sparse hair that formed at the base of his cock.

“You get used to it.” He chuckled again, earning an indifferent shrug from Daniel who was studying his own length. It was hairless, yet not too small for his age. 

‘_He’s a Diaz alright_.’ Sean thought smugly, then mentally reprimanded himself.

“I’m not sure if I would, but I guess it’s not so bad.” His eyes traced the movements Sean’s fingers made.

“Well you’d better get used to it, you might be as hairy as dad one day.” That would be so much worse, and even he was hoping that would not be the case. Dad was more rugged, it made sense for him to have all that hair on his arms and legs. Anyway, he kind of liked the hairless aspect to Daniel.

‘_Does that make me even more of a perv_?’

A small hand rose forward through the water and brushed against his belly, feeling the fine hair that dusted downward. Sean didn’t have much, and never cared to shave. As far as he knew, it seemed unlikely he’d ever grow as much as dad.

Sean bit his lip a little and watched Daniel explore, all the while wiping water from his eyes. His brows furrowed, relaxed, then drew together again as they felt the hair above his cock.

”I can shave if you don’t like it.” Sean offered, prompting Daniel to smile and place his hands over Sean’s hips. “No, it’s okay... It's kind of... It’s like your wolf fur.”

Sean could only smile awkwardly and ruffle Daniel’s hair, earning some laughter between the two of them. It was cool to get along like this, he hated feeling like a parent to Daniel. As much as Daniel thought he enjoyed it, telling Daniel what to do all the time was annoying for him as well.

Sean reached for the dial again and turned off the water. He yanked their towels down from the top of the shower rod and placed one under his arm, using the other to begin toweling through Daniel’s hair. He dropped to a knee and began rubbing along the rest of him. 

Shoulders first, his sides, and then over his belly. He was extra careful about drying off his butt, moving the towel around it in a slow and circular motion. All of the soapy runnels pouring down his inner thighs.

Daniel tensed up at first and then gently pushed Sean away, taking the towel for himself. He had hardened instantly, and Sean thought he gleaned a look of shame as Daniel turned away from him.

Satisfied, Sean took to toweling himself off too before he opened the curtains and stepped out of the steam and back into the cool open air of the bathroom.

“Come on, brush your teeth and then we can hop into bed.” Sean instructed, then began setting up his toothbrush, peering at Daniel who stepped to his side. He was still trying to conceal his hard on under his towel.

“We still have like a _whooooole_ hour until they get back.” Daniel reminded him, sticking his own brush in his mouth, all the while pouting at Sean in the mirror.

Sean paused in his own brushing, cheek full of paste as he smirked back at Daniel’s reflection.

“I know little cub. Hurry and brush.” 

“Oh.” He said in surprise, eyes going wide then closing coolly. He could be slow to catch on, sometimes.

The two wolf brothers continued brushing their teeth and then dressed in silence, a kind of mutual anticipation forming between the two of them as they finished up in the bathroom.

‘_This might be our only chance, I better make the most of it_.’ 

With time running out before Claire and Stephen returned, the two wolf brothers hurried across the upstairs landing and into the guest room. Daniel hadn't spared Karen’s door a single glance.

* * *

“I’m really going to miss Chris. Do you think Grandma and Grandpa are okay?” Daniel asked, his body stuffed in the corner of the cable car. Boxes of what seemed to be great saw blades lining the entire cubby.

Everything happened so fast, he still couldn’t believe it. In a single day everything fell apart. It just went on to prove that no matter how safe he began to feel, that they would never really be. Not here, and so they were journeying south again - to Puerto Lobos.

The only problem they had now was that they had zero money, and California wasn’t even half the journey.

“They’ll be okay, the cops can’t prove we were there, not without like, a warrant.” Sean looked away uneasily, he wasn’t sure if they had had one, they got out so quickly... He knew if they did, that harboring a fugitive was a crime.

We’re they fugitives? Hank Stamper claimed as much. “But we didn’t do anything, they can’t prove shit anyway.” God, he was so angry. They weren’t prepared to be back on the road again, no money...

He tried his best not to let on what he was thinking by staring out of the crack in their boxcar door. The trees passed by so fast, just like their time in Beaver Creek.

_'That’s the problem with staying so long. It only makes it harder when we have to leave again_.’

Daniel was idly trying out his yo-yo off to his left. He was attempting, and failing, to walk the dog. The haphazard shuffles of the car moving over the track making it that much harder as it rocked both boys to and fro.

Had they really kissed that night? It was Daniel’s first time, and all he could feel is that he stole it away. At the time, the thought of it was somehow exhilarating and ‘right,’ but now he only felt like a thief. 

‘_A hoodie, a tent... A freaking yo-yo is cool, no problem. But I stole my younger brothers first kiss too, that about says it all_.’

Part of him wanted to believe that maybe it didn’t count. That it was done to shut him up and was purely a result of their own lust. That wasn’t entirely true, he wanted to take it. Daniel had all but offered himself to be fucked right then and there. Yet, that was definitely too far. That was the one bridge he’d do anything to not cross.

Sean groaned, nose pinched between his cold and dirty fingers.

Then there was Chris, who’s own family dynamic was just as fucked up, just in a different way. Had he been able to help him at all? Charles promised to try and do better by Chris, but how much was the word of a drunk worth?

He’d told Daniel he could write to him when they got settled somewhere, that he wouldn’t lose him as a friend the way he might’ve lost Noah and how he might’ve lost Lyla... 

If Chris really was sent to live with his grandparents, how would they keep in touch? He didn’t want to think about it, instead he began watching Daniel tangle up his yo-yo by nearly dropping it.

“Come here...” He laughed, beckoning the young cub over to his side. “I’m not very good, but it’s all in the wrist. You can’t just yank it hard and hope it works.” 

Daniel growled at him sarcastically then plopped down beside him, allowing Sean to get to work untangling the thing.

“We’ll be okay Sean, I know we will. We’re the wolf brothers, right?” Daniel rose up onto both knees and cupped his hands over his mouth, glancing over to Sean in wait.

Smiling weakly, Sean got up and did the same, throwing his head back with Daniel in a series of long and much needed howls.

“**Awooooooooooo! Awo-awo-awoooooooo**!” They howled, their shared voices just barely dominating that of the train speeding along its track.

Daniel was giggling a bit, probably for the first time since boarding the train, and he couldn’t help but giggle too as he began to feel hopeful for the first time that day.

“I love you little bro.” He said, falling to his back with Daniel. Sean set the untangled yo-yo back on Daniel’s chest and then ruffled his hair. 

“Love you too, big bro.” He smiled back and the two of them stared at the dark ceiling of the boxcar, letting the movements slowly ease them off into a deep slumber.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Wolf Brothers**

**BetweenNightmares**

The smell of rain mixed with trees and dirt filled his nose. It was the first thing he noticed when he opened his eyes, what reminded him they were back in the woods again.

That smell was how mornings always began at the camp. Then at night it would end with a different smell, a more cool and crisp one underneath the weed that clung to his fingers. He usually didn’t mind the dusky smell, but after a while anything lost its charm.

He scratched his head, still bleary from sleep, but awake enough to see that Daniel left without him. “Really?” He groaned, he was always doing this. It made the sense of irritation he felt building all week begin to rise from below the surface.

The feeling moved in around the same time they did at camp. It grew in the days spent busting their backs outside the greenhouse or slicing their fingers to ribbons inside of it. His hands had so many scars, way too many for having only been here a month. Daniel too, maybe twice as many as he did.

Things were changing, mostly with Daniel who grew more distant as the days came and went. It began with little things, like not waiting for him in the morning and peaked with him avoiding him altogether for alone time with Finn. There were those looks of resentment too, like the one Daniel gave him after he spent the evening with Hannah and Cassidy after Daniel said he wanted to go to bed.

_’I should have gone with him.’_

He wanted to believe it was good that he and Daniel got some space while they were here. It was bound to happen eventually, it couldn’t be just the two of them forever.

Daniel asked him to fuck him back in Beaver Creek and he had wanted to. The thought of taking his brother’s virginity the same way he stole his first kiss excited him in a way that he couldn’t explain. It was wholly different than it might’ve been with Jenn and probably would be with Cassidy. Was Daniel mad they stopped? That they hadn’t done much of anything since arriving here? Sure they still kissed and cuddled and groped sometimes but Daniel seemed to agree that using that condom would be taking this all too far, even if they both wanted to.

‘_Or maybe that’s just what he thought I wanted to hear_.’

Sean looked to his side and noticed the watch he gave him laid in the corner of the tent. All at once his irritation vanished and a dull ache took its place.

‘_Maybe something really is bothering him.’ _Sean worried, now sitting cross legged in front of Daniel’s empty sleeping bag. Outside he could hear the not so distant murmurs of Penny and Ingrid having quiet conversation, and of birds chirping somewhere underneath that.

_‘I better have a talk with him, at some point_.’ He decided.

Over his head, the slightly worn picture of their dad stared down at him. Large brown eyes wove concern today. It never failed to fascinate him how he could read love, regret, disappointment, longing, and sympathy all in that same neutral expression depending on when he looked at it.

He searched around for pants and began to get dressed, trying to shove all of his feelings back down again with each pant-leg.

Clothed, he ventured outside. It took a few moments for everything to come into focus.

Penny and Ingrid were seated at the picnic table, just as he expected. Cassidy was sleeping he assumed, and probably would be until the truck came after how hard she went on the bong last night. Jacob, Anders? He wasn’t sure, and didn’t really care. He studied their camp for another minute or so to confirm what he already figured; both Daniel and Finn were nowhere to be seen.

‘_There’s a surprise, they’re probably hanging out by the lake, with Daniel telling him all about how much I suck at being his brother_.’

He strolled over to the coffee machine with a casual good morning to the two and then poured himself a cup. The warmth helped him wake up, and also seemed to flush away some of the irritation.

“How are you feeling, Sean? Going to make it?” Ingrid asked in her thick as hell accent. At first he didn’t even catch what she said, but eventually managed a groan in response. He eventually sat down with the two, it seemed like they were always the first two up.

“Hah, yeah... Remind me to tell Cassidy no next time. My head feels like it got ran over by big Joe’s truck.” He held his cup tightly, absorbing some of the warmth through his fingers.

“You were hella funny, man.” Penny chimed in. “Lucky the little dude went to bed and didn’t have to see his big brother trying to make it back to his tent.”

Sean shook his head with a bit of shame as the two laughed and then he peered around camp again.

“That reminds me, have you guys seen the bratty boy this morning? He left before I woke up... _again_.” The last part he muttered under his breath.

Penny shook his head and looked to Ingrid who was smiling fondly. “I think I saw him heading toward the lake, with Finn. Those two are really joined at the hip!” Her laughter only grated on him. Sean had to look down at his mug in order to hide how not amused he was.

He took a deep breath then inhaled the rest of his coffee before pulling himself to his feet. “Alright guys, see you later.”

He slowly started for the lake. Behind him he heard a quiet “later man.” From Penny which was followed by quiet whispers between the two.

‘_This is the last time I come after him._’ He thought, turning onto the bending pathway and off to find Daniel. He hated how broken their relationship became since coming to camp. It seemed as though no matter what he did it was never the right thing in Daniel's eyes. It was important for them to fit in and keep a low profile, two things already hard enough to do when he wasn’t also balancing a secret relationship with his brother who happened to have powers. 

'_I'm trying here, enano..._'

* * *

“Awesome...” A voice whispered.

“Right?” A deeper voice agreed.

Daniel hunched over and rocked on the balls of his feet over the large, if a little dull, knife that Finn had brought. It was too cool and he wished he had one of his own.

Today he and Finn were sat shoulder to shoulder on an old log by the water, tossing stones and talking about whatever they pleased. It was something they seemed to do more and more often now that Sean was falling in with the others, and he was fast becoming his favorite person at camp.

“Yeah, she’s pretty cool ain’t she? Had her a while... useful for all kinds of things out on the road.” Finn explained, although he mainly just used it for wood carving Daniel later found out.

“And if you want... I could show you how to throw it, now that’s really fun.” Finn reached over and ruffled unruly brown hair, keeping his eyes mostly on the water which seemed entirely too still at this hour.

“Duh! Of course. That’d be so cool.”

“Well alright, alright! Tomorrow we’ll practice all mornin’ then, crack of dawn.” He tucked the sharp tool away in his belt and slipped that arm over Daniel’s shoulder.

He really was grateful for Finn, and not because he was the one person who treated him like an adult around here, but because he took his mind off Sean. That wasn't easy considering Sean occupied most of his thoughts most of the time.

To Daniel it felt like Sean began to pull away as soon as they got here, then chose to spend all his time with Cassidy instead of him. Daniel could tell she liked him, who didn’t like Sean? Even Finn had said as much the day they had their ‘talk.’ Yet, it was her Sean wanted, who he was giving all his attention to.

It bugged the **hell** out of him.

He didn’t want to think about the idea of him possibly returning her feelings. Would he start kissing her the way the two of them did at night? Would she eventually be on her back while his brother slipped on that condom, doing the very thing they pretended to do back at their grandparents?

His mind wandered back to the day Finn gave him the bandanna around his wrist.

_“Are you serious?”_

_He stared point blank at Finn. He was a little bit angry because he couldn’t tell if he was joking or not._

_“Now would I lie to you, sweetheart? It actually feels kinda good... Once you get used to it.” _

_Finn raised one hand next to the other, creating an ‘o’ with two fingers and then slipped another right through it. “Satisfied? You’re still young pup, you’ve got time before you start worrying about all that stuff.” _

_That couldn't have been further from the truth. With each day that passed it felt like the space between him and Sean was growing and that same space between him and Cassidy was closing in._

_Knowing how to go about sex only made him want to try it that much more. To Finn, sex was the ultimate gesture of both love and lust one person could offer another person. Which also made it the perfect solution to fix what was broken between him and Sean._

_“I guess so, thanks for talking about... y’know. I knew you’d get me.” He offered Finn what little smile he could manage._

_“No problem my man... here, I want you to have this.” Finn said softly, fishing something out of his back pocket. “Think of it as a token commemorating our little chat.” It was a bandanna, worn, but still cool._

_Finn knotted it around his wrist and then pretend punched his shoulder, resuming their stroll through the trees._

_Would Finn understand if he knew?_

_Part of him couldn’t see Finn judging them for anything, but the other knew it was too big a risk to bet on it for sure. That didn’t stop him from imagining Finn’s reaction over and over in his mind though, he wanted to tell him - somebody... anybody who would allow him to talk about how he felt and work through all the uncertainties floating around in his head._

_The weeks he and Sean were spending not talking about it only made him that much more angry, not even counting when he would flirt with Cassidy and not push her away when she flirted with him._

_’How do I fix this?’ He thought, considering Finn’s explanation of sex._

Daniel shook his head, awoken from his thoughts by a firm but gentle shake to his shoulder. “Yoo-hoo? You awake in there?” It was Finn, half turned and pointing toward something behind them.

Sean was strolling down from camp, brows furrowed with fresh bags beneath his eyes. He looked tired, yet more angry than anything. Daniel knew he wasn’t happy with him, but Sean only had himself to blame after what he did last night.

“Alright pups, try to play nice!”

Finn saddled a leg back over the log and bowed to Daniel, departing with a friendly, but regretful smile in his direction. One that had no intention of sticking around for the Diaz vs. Diaz argument that was about to go down.

'_He ignores me half the time and then gets pissed when I don't sit around waiting for him... fuck that_.' Daniel thought, the anger he could see on Sean's face only serving to feed his own.

Daniel began rising to his feet, fully intending to dismiss Sean and head off. It was time to get ready for another day of busting his ass for money he would never see anyway.

* * *

Sean slowed and nodded to Finn in passing, grateful he wasn’t going to stick around and continued marching toward Daniel who was rolling his eyes and rising to his feet.

“I already know what you’re going to say, and I don’t care.” Daniel began, chin raising indignantly when he stopped in front of him.

“Seriously?” 

Sean paused, hands thrown up helplessly. “Do you know how scary it is to wake up and not see you there? I had no idea where you were... you’re always doing this.” Sean explained, attempting and failing to keep a calm and clear voice.

‘_Well, I had some idea._..’

“You’re not responsible for me... I can take care of myself now.” 

Daniel glanced away, his brows furrowed as Sean clenched his fingers.

“I am responsible for you dude, whether you like it or not.”

“There’s a lot of things I don’t like...” Daniel muttered, eyes closed and fists balled, prompting Sean to step closer and place his hands over small shoulders.

“Just... talk to me enano, tell me what I’m doing wrong. I don’t like this new you... what happened to the wolf brothers?” Sean gave him a small shake which Daniel shrugged off and broke forward from.

“That’s funny, forget it... almost time for work anyway.” He said, the bitterness in his voice making Sean’s stomach turn over. Daniel was already heading toward the trail.

It went the same way every time. He would try to talk to him, to fix things, but that only seemed to make their problems worse. He wanted to ask for help, maybe Finn in all his wisdom would know what to do. He certainly got on better with Daniel than he did now. Each time he considered it he always backed down because to ask would finalize that there really was a problem and that he couldn't fix it himself.

Head throbbing, Sean turned on his heel after Daniel.

‘_I don’t know how much longer I can deal with this shit.'_

As if in spite he wondered if Cassidy was awake.

At least she didn’t play mind games like Daniel did. Why couldn’t he just tell him what was wrong, was he supposed to read his thoughts? There was a time when he would have killed for some space, but now that he had it all he wanted was his little brother back.

* * *

The following night crickets were the only source of noise apart from the heavy breathing that came from the two wolves. It was well past midnight and everyone else was asleep except maybe for Finn and Hannah, who were already halfway to wasted by the time he followed Daniel back to their tent.

Daniel was flat on his back with both legs folded up against his chest. Sweat lined his forehead where chocolate brown locks were matted to his face. Underneath it all was an expression of pain, pain and pleasure that fought to decide which was being felt stronger.

He was inside his brother, fucking him as hard and as deep as he could, just like Daniel asked him to do back in Beaver Creek. All of the guilt that rattled around in his head vanished, disappeared the moment Daniel forced his mouth around his cock earlier that night.

He knew Daniel was too young for them to be taking it this far, he tried to fight it, but even though he had almost 7 years on Daniel and was nearly twice his size, Daniel was the stronger of the two... he knew exactly how to best him.

Sean grasped him by his smaller hips and leaned down onto him, biting back a moan which only made Daniel smile through the pain he was trying to conceal.

“I’m almost there enano, how you holding up?” He whispered, pausing and laying flat against Daniel who was trying, and failing, to keep from levitating their bags. “You don’t have to keep asking you know, I said I’m fine.” He replied, his voice a hushed and irritated whisper.  
  
Sean brushed back some of his hair and guiltily closed his eyes. He was so close... 

‘_This is the point of no return, I really went through with it... but Daniel wanted this, and I’d do anything to keep him from hating me... will I hate myself after instead_?’

Conflicted thoughts passed in and out of his head since the day they started doing this stuff. It was so wrong, he knew, but who was left to judge them for it? The picture of their dad? It began with one choice, his choice, all those months ago, and now there was no going back.   
_  
’fuck...’_

Sean rammed forward, driving himself into Daniel as far as he could in the face of the mounting pleasure. Daniel wriggled in response, grunting in pain while the older wolf held onto the trembling body beneath him, inhaling the scent they made together.

Once, twice, maybe even three times he could feel himself spill into Daniel, causing him to squirm. It took all he had to keep himself quiet, not to moan or even scream out from how insanely good it felt - it was so beyond anything he’d ever felt before.

To silence himself and Daniel, he leaned down and kissed him hungrily, salty beads running down his cheek and onto Daniel’s.

Daniel curled up beneath him, cum pooling between his thighs as Sean struggled to control how hard his heart was racing. Sweat ran down both of their bodies, with every part of him tingling in the afterglow of an intense orgasm.

“You okay?” He asked between breaths, the smell of cum thick on their fingers. His cock was still inside Daniel, and he hesitated to pull out before he got an answer.

There was a pregnant pause.

“Yeah... I’m good actually.” His tone was somber, reflective. Sean could see the wall that formed between them in the last month diminish in that soft and watery gleam to his eyes.

He offered a gentle ruffle to Daniel’s hair. Outside the tent there was a slight crackle of footsteps, Hannah? 

Sean then flexed his hips, palms planted on either side of his brother. “I’m gonna pull out now, cool?” He asked in a whisper, trying to disguise how nervous he was listening to the noise outside their door. If somebody came in now...

Daniel merely closed his eyes and nodded, his small body tensing in an effort not to lose control again, to snap any more trees and wake anyone else up. Despite himself, Sean could feel their belongings being shifted around.

Sean carefully eased himself back, feeling the way his softened cock slid out with a new kind of ease. 

The condom had broken a little he realized immediately. He didn’t know how he didn’t see it coming, it was so old. Now his cock was coated in cum and sweat and - 

‘_Oh shit... That’s blood_.’

Panic surged through his body and made him pull out completely in a single fluid motion, earning a sharp whimper from Daniel. He could read several small veins in his neck bulging in the darkness.

‘_S-shit, sorry enano...’_ He sat on the back of his heels, frozen as Daniel squirmed onto his side. The remainder of their union now seeping down his small thighs in a sickly pink trail.

“Hold on...”

Sean reached blindly in the dark, shuffling around through their bags until he found some toilet paper. He was too panicked and too sorry to be grossed out about what came next.

“I bet Finn didn’t tell you about this part either.” He whispered, tucking the paper between Daniel’s legs and wiping away the soil. Daniel tensed, but simply curled his head deeper into his sleeping bag.

“I don’t care... I’m glad we did it.” The tips of his ears were flushed red, and Sean could only place a supportive hand over Daniel’s shoulder while he finished him up and then did himself. 

As gently as he could he helped Daniel slide back into his shorts before slipping in behind him, holding him close around his waist. He placed a kiss to the back of his neck and stared deeply into it as a silence fell between them. It wasn’t an awkward silence, but it definitely had a weight to it.

Daniel was shuffling against him, trying to get comfortable. Remembering what he had told Daniel about sex, he knew Daniel probably wasn’t going to tonight.

“It never stopped being about the wolf brothers for me. I just... I wish it was like before, before _her.”_

There was some resentment he heard, but mostly frustration.

Sean could sense Daniel’s eyes peering off to the side, waiting for a response from behind his shoulder.

“Yeah, I know little cub... me too.” Was all he could think to respond with, and he hoped it was good enough. It didn’t sound good enough. “It was my first time too you know... nobody can replace that.” He raised his chin onto Daniel’s shoulder, tucking into the small of his neck.

”We just... we have to fit in here, you know? Finn, Cass... they saved our asses back there, and we almost have enough money.”

Daniel shifted slightly against Sean, but offered no response. Sean knew he knew it was true, even if he didn’t like what that meant. “Well... I’m glad you came back with me tonight, I-I missed talking.”

‘_I would have given anything to fix what I broke between us..._’ He thought, feeling sleep begin to pull at his eyes.

"You always come first, you know that." He restated. 

A small hand rested over his own, holding them softly in place. It thumbed his own, scars against scars now.

“Good night, Sean.” Daniel murmured, curling back into him.

“Good night, enano.”

* * *

‘_I ruined everything..._’ Daniel thought anxiously, peering across camp at where Sean and Finn were. He knew they were talking about him, his power, and how to get back at Merril with it. He should be as angry at Merrill as they were, but right now all he could think about is how furious Sean was with him for not doing as he was told.

Because of him not only was nobody getting paid this week, but Sean also took a punch to keep his secret safe. He felt like shit, and he wondered if Sean was going to go to have a talk with him after or distance himself for the rest of their time here.

While on the inside he battled with his worries, outwardly he and Hannah were carrying on about things he missed from before all this, like his playbox and how he’d spend hours each night playing Minecraft with Noah. It all seemed like another life now, and none of it seemed to matter anymore.

‘_Sean is all I think about anymore... Chris too I guess__._’

He raised his head again, watching as Sean appeared to be apologizing and leaving Finn alone on the log. Finn shook his head and shotgunned the rest of his beer, crushing it in his hands and then tossing it over his shoulder.

He wanted to get up and go ask what happened, but a fire inside his belly ignited watching Sean wander over to where Cassidy was standing. She greeted him with a breezy smile.

Daniel wiggled, visibly worried enough for Hannah to ask him if he needed to use the bathroom. He laughed and declined. “Felt like a bug was on me, gross.” It was weird how easy lies came now.

She grinned and grabbed his shoulder, telling him that if he was a man to be tough like a man.

That was hard, he couldn’t imagine how tough he would need to be to watch Cassidy flirt so openly with Sean. Why was he so jealous? It’s not like they were staying. Soon enough it would just be him and Sean again out on the road - like old times.

He watched the two talk for a moment, studied the way she leaned close to him and the way he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. There was some laughter that followed, and when he saw her break out her tattooing equipment it took all he had not to stand up and march over, to interrupt it and take Sean back.

He didn’t though, his feet instead began to shuffle toward Finn who was holding his head in his hands, looking more miserable than he did.

“What’s up with you?” He asked, sounding more annoyed than he meant to, at least towards Finn. Finn never got under his skin. He was like Sean in some ways, and while he felt like an older brother too he wasn’t a wolf, he was a hound like Cassidy.

“Just thinking about some stuff... Lot to work out, you know. With you leavin’ and, well...” He offered a weak smile, and Daniel could smell the beer on his breath. Whatever he was about to say fell short, he shook his head instead.

“That gift of yours is pretty damn amazing.”

Daniel shrugged a little, he was kind of glad that Finn didn’t hold him keeping that secret against him.

“Yeah, too bad Big Joe didn’t seem to think so.” He grinned down at Finn, reading something in his eyes he’d never quite seen before. It was a yearning, a sadness, and Daniel knew there was probably more to that conversation with Sean than it seemed.

‘_Does he... Does he know about me and Sean? Shit._’

He took a seat beside him and thrummed his fingers over the tops of his knees, trying to remain calm. ‘_If Finn does know, why isn’t he bringing it up? Is he too grossed out?’_

“Sean’s a good guy. He uh, he’s a good big brother, you know?” Finn spoke aloud, seeming to have read his mind.

‘_Shit he does know._’

“I was thinking, I said: We could get Merrill back for what he did to you guys, to us.” He leaned in a bit, voice hushed. “With your powers? We could crack open that safe no problem, you guys would be totally set up for Mexico, easy!” 

Daniel’s eyes drifted over toward Sean who had his arm outstretched on the table, Cassidy was leaning over it in concentration. He was getting the tattoo after all? He didn’t want to imagine what she was scrawling on his arm, what if it was her face? He furrowed his brows and looked back to Finn.

Their eyes locked with each other’s, and they were as bright as the night sky and as green as grass. “Too risky your brother said, but I know you... you’re freaking amazing.” Finn drew a bit closer, poking a finger into his chest and then bringing it up, tilting Daniel’s chin with it. 

Relief flooded through him. ‘_He doesn’t know..._’

“I-I dunno... If Sean said no then— I should listen... It’s my fault Merrill took our money, because I didn’t listen.” Daniel lamented, trying not to focus on how close Finn’s lips were to his. The way his eyes lidded so dreamily, his smell-

“Besides, me and Sean are good now. I have to try to be good too, at least for a while.” Finn smiled at that and withdrew his fingers, a kind of silent understanding growing between them in that moment.

“Yeah, you’re right - as always... Smart and cute, you and your brother are really going to be a loss for us.” Finn mused in a casual sort of way, and Daniel brushed into his arm.

“We’re not gone yet, so... We still got plenty of time to hang out.” He found himself sounding a little more optimistic. It was easier when it was for the benefit of somebody else.

His attention eventually wandered back to where Sean and Cassidy were seated, he couldn’t seem to help it. It was like a fox had snuck into their den and was trying to lure his brother away.

His heart skipped.

They were gone, he was lured away.

He straightened his back and began peering around, trying to spot them in the corners of the dimly lit camp. He was just barely able to make out Cassidy jogging off toward the lake, Sean walking after her, his arm wrapped in plastic...

His heart raced.

‘_He wouldn’t... right? No way_.’

A full ache bloomed inside him again, he wasn’t even listening to Finn anymore who was rambling there beside him, beer in one hand and another resting over his shoulder. He thought he heard him mention Costa Rica, but all he could hear was the blood pounding through his ears.

“I better go check on Sean. I didn’t thank him for taking that punch for me.” He squirmed out from beneath Finn’s arm and offered his best attempt at a smile, one that said everything was okay. On the inside, he was falling apart.

“Sure thing sweetheart, talk to you later.” He waved him off with a beer in his hand and Daniel had to consciously slow his pace from the sprint his legs tried to break into.

He weaved through tents and stumbled around trees in the dark, trying to keep off the path but to unable to find level ground.

His thoughts were a blind torrent of his worst fears. That Sean was going to leave him for Cassidy, that he would love her more than him, that he would ask her to come with them, and terror began to take hold.

When he approached the lake from behind a gathering of shrubs, he was able to hear them before he saw them. Cassidy’s high laughter stood out in the silence of the forest. He could vaguely hear the sounds of splashing water too, and then for Sean to shout something. He sounded annoyed.

Carefully, Daniel nudged his way through damp leaves until his head emerged on the other side, eyes growing wide by what image came into view.

Sean was stood by the water’s edge, bare apart from his boxers and the moonlight beaming off his back. Cassidy was already in the lake, he could just scarcely make her out by her hair.

It somehow embittered him to remember how he once thought it was cool, different. Now it was the symbol of everything he hated about her. He would give anything for her to disappear, she was nothing but a problem for him.

Before he knew it Sean was suddenly pulling off his boxers as well, before he too waded into the water.

As much as he wanted to look away, to not watch as his brother fall for another, he found that his eyes were wide and frozen on the scene playing out before him. As much as it hurt, he had to know whether he loved her as much as him.

They were laughing loudly, splashing, wading around in the moonlight, and he was simply too far from them to hear what they were saying. That fact didn’t keep him from imagining, however.

Somewhere behind him, a thrumming sound began to rise between the trees. The sounds of branches, of rocks, anything smaller than a boulder - rising up filled his ears, but it wasn’t enough to drown out Cassidy’s voice.

He wanted to leave, to destroy everything he came across, to let out all of this anger that was building and building inside of him over the last few weeks, but he couldn’t. 

He-

They kissed.

Everything that had been rising into the air fell down around him all at once, thudding against the earth as his head lowered into leaves. He curled up into a ball, tears falling down his cheeks.

It felt like somebody had taken a knife and drove it through his chest. The pain was so sharp he could hardly breathe. His whole world seemed to fade away. All that was left was pain now.

‘_Was I stupid to think it’d only ever just be the two of us?’_

He didn’t know anymore. Everything was going wrong and none of it made any sense. 

The splashing stopped, and the two voices grew closer as they made their way back to shore. He didn’t bother looking, he had seen enough at that point.

“Quit looking!” Sean laughed, and there were the distinct sounds of metal buckles and zippers being fiddled with. 

Daniel rubbed his eyes and turned over, facing the lake as he began to rise into a crouch again. Looking back through the leaves he saw that they were now dressed and still damp from the water.

Cassidy began to lead the two of them toward the path, prompting Daniel to narrow his eyes and hunch his way back out of the shrubs and back into the forest.

He felt like a spy, watching them from the darkness as they made their way back toward camp. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins. Part of him wanted to confront him, but the other part remembered the rules... Even if they seemed pointless now.

All he wanted to do now was scream at Sean, to make him feel a fraction of the hurt he was feeling himself, to make him pay for his kissing Cassidy. Even if he knew deep down that he still loved that asshole, right now anger was all he could feel.

Cassidy stopped in front of her tent, zipped it open and gestured to it with her raised arms.

‘_Sean..._’ Daniel thought, almost wilting with his anger.

Sean shifted on his feet and then ultimately slouched into her tent, Cassidy following in behind. The last thing he saw before a white fury blinded him was the tent door zipping closed.

“Fuck this.” Daniel said, stepping out from the dark and back into camp. Everyone was back in their tents, everyone except Finn. He stood with a joint in his hand, leaned up against a tree. 

He wandered towards him.

“Hey Finn...” He murmured, and almost broke down.

“You’re still up?! Look at you! You—“ Finn paused, studying his face. “Sweetie, what’s wrong, what’s up?” He outstretched a hand and Daniel accepted, allowing Finn to pull him closer.

Finn tossed away his joint and pulled the both of them down to the ground. Finn crossed his legs and lifted Daniel across his lap, cradling him. “Tell me what happened...” He whispered, although he seemed to have some idea already.

“I. Hate. Him.” Daniel said bitterly, tears still threatening to break loose every time he spoke.

“No you don’t... Brothers can be jerks sometimes! Hell, I had three to deal with. You guys just need space is all, it’s been a long day.” 

“He’d rather fuck Cassidy than talk to me.” Daniel stated. The lights in her tent had gone out. He was numb at that point, and all it made him do was zone out at the dirt instead.

“He’s a teenager, pup. Hormones and all that, doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about you.” Finn stroked his hair, pulling a leaf from it.

‘_Yes it does..._’

“At least you care about me tonight. We never fight, and you listen every time.” Daniel muttered. It was true, he had no idea what he might have done if Finn wasn’t still awake.

“That’s because I know how special you are. From the minute I saw you I knew we’d get on along with each other. You’re just like me.”

That made him smile a little, he couldn’t help it, there could hardly be a better compliment. It was exactly the sort'v thing he needed to hear after all the bad that had happened tonight.

He curled up in Finn’s arms, taking in his scent of beer, weed, and smoked wood and comparing it to that of Sean’s. It wasn’t the same, wasn’t as familiar or as good, but he did enjoy it - probably the same way Sean also enjoyed Cassidy.

Daniel knew they weren’t exclusive, he knew what they did in private was simply pleasure, they were brothers after all - and Sean reminded him of that often, but why did he still feel so jealous?

“So... It’s late, we’re both still up.” Finn began, giving him a gentle shake. “Anything you feel like doing? I was gonna hit the sack soon myself.” His gaze shifted toward Hannah’s tent, then he scratched the line on his chin.

"Well... There is one thing." Daniel whispered. The idea Finn proposed earlier returned to him like a dark cloud. He was no longer interested in revenge on Merrill, but rather, in proving his value to Sean. "Do you really think it'll be easy? Breaking into the safe... I was thinking, maybe if I get us that money..."

Finn lofted an eyebrow, then chuckled, squeezing both of his arms around him.

"My man, with you? It'll be stupid easy! Like taking candy from a baby! We just need to go over a game plan, Merrill is probably drunk, as usual... We could be in and out of there before he even knows... I even have a key.”

Daniel smiled a little and then nodded. "Alright, I’m in.”

“You are the man!” He exclaimed, placing his lips to Daniel’s forehead and placing a loud and noisy kiss there. Daniel chuckled a little and wiped away the moisture, but the inside of his chest thundered with excitement.

“And who knows, after all this maybe you guys will stick around after all... You guys are like family to us, you know?”   
_  
‘Sorry Finn, but if everything goes well... me and Sean will be gone._’

"Let's do this."


	4. Chapter 4

**The Wolf Brothers**

**BetweenNightmares**

Sean awoke to a sharp pain where his eye used to be. It was like pins and needles were lodged in the empty socket, enough to make him feel nauseous. He’d been in the hospital once before, for a broken leg, but this was way worse.

It had been a whole month since the explosion at the pot farm, but it felt much longer to Sean. When he wasn’t trying to sleep through his pain, his days were punctuated by visits from his nurse Joey or Agent Flores. Unlike Joey she always brought more stress than he needed right now.

‘_Oh, right... she’s supposed to be stopping by today, great._’ 

He had an hour to kill before then. Plenty of time to get his medication before she interrogated him over more things didn’t do.

She claimed to want to help, that if he helped her then she would help him, but he couldn’t trust her - trust anybody anymore, look what happened with Finn. For now he was playing dumb, he blacked out and that was all he remembered. He had no idea why the farm was destroyed.

Sean rose from his bed onto unsteady feet. He had trouble keeping his balance, but over time he began to adapt and compensate for it, at least enough to make it back and forth to the bathroom. He was glad he no longer had to rely on Joey for that part. It was humiliating to rely on somebody else in order to pee.

When he reached the bathroom he immediately braced himself against the sink and groaned. He had bruises on his bruises, and sitting in that bed for so long made everything stiff.

‘_Is this what it feels like to be old_?’

He managed to raise his head, look at himself properly in the mirror. He still couldn’t believe it, accept it. He felt like the universe made a mistake and every time he woke up he half expected it to catch up and correct itself. But it never did, his eye was completely gone, he had no hair and looked lucky to be alive with how battered the rest of him looked.

That wasn’t the part of the explosion that bothered him the most, Daniel was still nowhere to be found. As far as he knew the cops recovered Finn, Merrill, and Cass as well as questioned everybody else they could to track down. Daniel? Nobody had a clue what happened to him.

He knew well enough to run from danger, but Daniel always had trouble with following rules. Where would he run to anyway?

It made his body explode with fresh anxiety to imagine Daniel, who he knew was hurt - to be wandering alone in the wilderness. Would he try to meet up with Claire and Stephen? Or would he go to Puerto Lobos on his own? Both were too far to seem likely.

Ever since he was taken off the morphine, his mind did nothing but torment him with guilt and regret. Both of which he figured he deserved for trying to hook up with Cassidy that night. He genuinely liked her and wanted to see what it would be like being with her before they left. He and Daniel were both honest about liking other people the night before, whether it was Cassidy or Finn. After everything though, he knew Daniel wanted him to himself, and he was stupid to not see it sooner.

The one thing he remembered about that night at the farm was Daniel’s eyes when he arrived with Cassidy, doing everything he could to stop him from going through with that stupid heist. It was a look of betrayal. It continued to haunt him how everything went down. Now Daniel was gone and they might never—

‘_Dude, stop... You’re going to find him, you’ll be able to talk about it. Not just that, but everything you need to talk about..._’

He knew if he didn’t have a real conversation with Daniel about their relationship, he might end up losing him entirely. It would be so easy to just say ‘fuck it,’ to just give up on a conventional love life and continue whatever it was he and Daniel were doing together, but the rational part inside him - the moral side, he just couldn’t let go of so easily. 

Alternatively, if he learned anything at the farm it was that you didn’t need to conform to what society wanted you to be, that the most free way to live your life was by being totally honest with who you are. That was hard for him, especially when one side of him wanted something that the other knew was wrong.

‘_Just be okay... wherever you are._’

He splashed water on his face and hissed. His socket was sensitive to the cold, heat, and pretty much everything else. The sensation was jarring, and he felt gross every time Joey peeled back his gauze and swabbed the area. The doctor was told him he should count his blessings, better to lose an eye than his life. He still had trouble coping though, he felt like he was in a defective version of his body. Looking in the mirror he hardly recognized himself.

Remembering the throbbing pain, Sean peed as quickly as he could in order to get back to his bed. He was supposed to buzz Joey when the pain was this bad, but only this bad. He was careful to warn Sean all about how addicting some of these pain meds were.

‘_Thanks Joey, I’ll be sure to let Flores know to add drug charges to my wrap sheet_.’

He crawled back into his bed and clicked the buzzer. He felt relief wash over him in that Joey would be there soon. He was practically his only source of company since he arrived here, apart from Flores of course, and lucky him that she was always so bright and cheery. Joey on the other hand, was always in a good mood. He almost felt like he could trust him, almost.

In all the time he’d been here he only got one letter so far, and that was from his grandparents and Chris. He was so glad to hear that Charles was cleaning up a bit, and a little saddened that Chris didn’t realize Daniel was missing. That kid had been through enough already, definitely didn’t need to spend his time worrying about Daniel. He worried about Daniel enough on his own.

He spent a few minutes looking at it and going through TV channels, even though he knew he wasn’t going to find anything to watch. The least hospitals could do these days was get Netflix. After 10 minutes or so the door opened following a brief exchange with the guard outside, and Sean sat upright, fully expecting Joey to round the corner.

It was Flores.

“Hello, Sean.” She said curtly, not looking up from her folder as she rounded his bed and made her way over to the table, pulling a chair out and taking a seat. Sean couldn’t help but glare at her, she came in and out as she pleased. It wasn’t even noon, when she was supposed to be there.

“I have more questions to go over with you today, about Bear Gas station.”

Sean felt anger boil underneath his skin. The last thing he wanted to do was rehash his encounter with that asshole hillbilly, especially since they already did, and now they were doing it again before Joey got to deal with his eye, which was already beginning to itch.

“You’re early, Joey hasn’t even come yet.” Sean pointed out, the venom in his voice much more potent than he intended. It prompted Flores to look up and cross her legs, somehow she always maintained a neutral expression.

_‘How am I supposed to trust somebody who always has the same face?_'

She looked back down again, skimming through different police reports. “I know, this won’t take long so try to bear with me here. I want to get the full story, unadulterated this time.” She set her papers aside and took out a pen and notepad. “I want to go over what happened, October 31st.”

“I already told you a hundred times, he attacked us - kidnapped me... I was scared.” Sean said, his voice already beginning to shake. No matter how many times he told the same story, he knew nobody was going to believe it, not after they ran from Seattle. Innocent people don’t run, that’s what Flores said, but she never understood that scared people do.

“Hank Stamper claims you stole goods from his store, and after he confronted you outside, you attempted to -“ Flores recited, skimming over the report to her right. Sean interrupted her, “I didn’t steal anything, he accused us and knocked me out... He tied me up in his back office. Kicked me in the face...” He looked away, the pain in his eye only growing worse.

She tapped her pen against her folder contemplating, then made several small notes that Sean knew were to small to be his statement.

“He says you broke back into the store, and trashed it. He says there was an explosion, after which you stole 154$ worth of items, including camping supplies after attacking him.” Flores continued, jotting down his previous statement with her pen. She looked up, searching his face.

“I was scared, badly hurt, he had me tied up in his back office. I was trying to escape, he grabbed my leg... It was self defense!” Sean narrowed his eye, feeling it begin to sting from frustration and the pain blooming in his socket. “I didn’t steal anything, I paid for our stuff before...”

“Thank you Sean, this really is helping.” She said cryptically, making Sean wonder who exactly it was helping, him or her? “Now I want to ask you about the hotel room, Three Seals, reports say you-“ She began flipping through her papers again, making Sean feel nauseous. 

“I need my medicine.” Sean reminded weakly, it felt like blood was thundering through his temples, the world around him growing more blurry with each question she asked. This was torture, why was she able to do this? 

“We’re almost done. Guests reported hearing a loud noise during the night, that sounded like another small explosion. The manager describes there being some sort of power surge.” Flores set her papers down and folded her hands in her lap.

“Sean, help me out here... I can’t help you unless you tell me what really happened.” She eyed him as he sat there, feeling his temples ache and throb and for sweat to begin to bead down the sides of his head. “Please, I told you everything I remember... I need my medicine, my eye.” He was desperate, it felt like he was about to pass out.

“You have to work with me Sean, we’re doing everything we can to find your brother. If you cooperate, we may be able to find him sooner...” She began gathering up her papers, and Sean could hear the buzzing of her phone going off in her pocket.

_'Yeah agent, my brother has telekinesis and it keeps fucking us. Any more questions?_'

“I want to find him too, I’d tell you if I had any idea where he was..” He hated to sit there begging, but he could hardly think straight, and the pain was about to make him vomit. 

_‘Fuck humiliation, I don’t care anymore.’_

Flores gathered up her papers and stood up, pushing in her chair and placing a card on the table. “That’s it for today, I’ll leave my card if you remember anything. You can call me any time, day or night. I’ll be back in one week. Goodbye Sean.” She pulled out her phone and began speaking with somebody, carrying on with the next matter before she even managed to leave the room.

He was about to press his buzzer again when the door opened for a second time. This time, it was Joey who was wheeling a cart into his room. It contained his eye cream and pain medication. “Hey there, Sean. I’m sorry I took so long, that agent made me wait outside until after she was done with you.” He began, looking more than a little irritated as he saw Sean’s face. He knew he looked rough. Aside from the old scrapes and bruises he was wet with sweat.

“It ain’t right... You should have had this an hour ago, I’ll make sure they don’t do this again.” He promised, wasting no time in setting up his IV.

“Joey...” He whispered breathlessly, eternally grateful he was here. 

_‘Fuck this place. Daniel... Just hang on, when I get better I’m coming after you - wherever you are.’ _

He laid back in his bed, staring up at the ceiling as Joey stuck the needle IV in his arm. Warmth began to spread from it, erasing his pain and making him all the more drowsy. 

“Thank you, Joey.” Sean whispered, looking away once everything was said and done. Joey began setting up the stuff to clean his eye, trying to smile. “Hey, it’s my pleasure, and my job. I’m just glad you always make it enjoyable. You’re probably my favorite patient right now.” He began telling him a couple of stories, but as Joey went on he began to feel more and more drowsy.

That sick feeling of having his wound exposed returned, only now he was becoming to sleepy to care. It was still a bit painful and not quite healed, and so it was easier on the both of them for Joey to do it this way.

‘_Guess it’s working... fuck._’ He thought, starting to drift in and out while Joey fixed him up. At least when he was doped up he didn’t have to think.

“Hang in there, Sean. Give it another week or two, you’ll be good as new. I promise you.” He said, fixing his pillow and straightening his sheets.

Of course he knew that once he was better there would be no reason for him to stay here. He'd be shipped off to Jolena Shore the minute his doctors gave the all clear. That meant he had just two weeks to get better, find out where Daniel was and figure out how he was going to get out of this mess.

‘_Daniel..._’

* * *

Nevada was hell on earth and no amount of varsity track could have prepared him for the miles that stretched out ahead. The sun was burning him alive and there was nothing he could do to escape it.

Pearls of sweat dribbled out from beneath his arms and ran down his sides in trails that felt uncomfortably sticky. By the time he made it to Haven Point (if he made it) he was sure he would probably have heat stroke in addition to being as red as a lobster.

The car he stole had taken him the most of the way, but after he ran out of gas the last leg had to be made purely out of his determination to see Daniel again. After all, he made it this far, managed to escape the hospital and Jolena Shore. He even came out of last night’s beating with only a few bad bruises.

‘_So much for fucking humiliation. My pride almost got me killed_.’

He never felt more angry than he did in that moment. Not because two assholes appeared out of nowhere to kick him while he was down, but because of how powerless he was to stop them. They could have killed him or called the police when they saw the stolen car. Then Daniel would never know he was out here - trying to get back to him even if it killed him.

He tried not to think about that, about anything other than shuffling one foot in front of the other. The last sign he saw said that it was still about a three hour walk to Haven Point. It didn’t seem impossible, but he also couldn’t imagine three more hours cooking out here in this heat.

‘_Is this my punishment... for everything? I know I'm not perfect... but I'm trying my best, I promise._’ He thought to himself.

He could do nothing else other than try at this point, to hope that it would be enough to set things right with Daniel. During his escape he ran into Finn who miraculously was stuck in the same hospital he was. At first he wanted to blame him for everything, to vent all of his frustrations and take them out on him. Looking at him though, as bruised and battered as he was when he arrived, he decided to forgive him instead. He would probably face jail time, he knew, and that was punishment enough... Finn wasn't evil, just a dumb ass as Cassidy claimed at the lake.

‘_Just let me make it..._’

As he approached what was probably the umpteenth billboard thus far, he couldn't help but shamble over to what meager shade it provided for a rest. He had a little water left, but was trying to make it last as long as he could. A single gulp was all he allowed himself to soothe his dry and sandpapery throat before he whipped out his sketchpad and began trying to distract himself while he cooled. Whenever he stopped he could feel his skin more acutely, the gentle burning sensation that lay just below the surface. He tried keeping his hoodie on to protect himself for the first hour, but knew he'd rather face sunburn than to pass out in the middle of nowhere after getting seriously dizzy.

Idly, he drew an oasis out there in the distance. He had called the hospital hell, but compared to here it didn't even come close.

In some sort of dark humor, Sean scribbled out the oasis and drew the desert as hell instead and was pretty satisfied with the result, not half bad compared to his other scrawls. It'd still be a long time before he was back to where he should be though, if even possible with only one eye.

Knowing there was little time to waste, he lifted his aching body and wandered back to the side of the road and continued onward. He guessed he had about another hour or two of walking left until he got there and he was surprised he hadn't seen a single car pass by in hours. With the heat burning on the back of his neck he sighed, pausing, wondering if he would even make it. That was when a low rumbling began to approach from behind and then a honk once it grew loud enough. Sean raised his body and glanced around in time to see a lumber truck pass by and then begin to slow to a stop a couple of yards ahead.

"They're stopping? Maybe they can give me a ride." Sean whispered, desperate enough to jog toward it even though he knew luck hadn't been on his side so far. He opened the passenger side door and was greeted by a friendly enough face.

"Need a ride?"

Throwing caution to the wind and placing his faith on the line, Sean climbed in.

_‘Almost there, hold on Daniel.’_

* * *

The sound of the front door closing was all too familiar to Sean. It sounded the same as it did all those years ago when Karen left them forever. He remembered the echoes of guilt, shame, and yet neither of those all at the same time filling their home. He cried then, but he was too tired to cry now. Besides, he had to be strong.

Karen promised she’d be back shortly with some supplies. And although her word meant little, it was all had to fall back on if he was going to get Daniel out.

He gave the knob in the shower a hard turn and let the water pour over his aching body. He was bruised and battered just like he had been at Three Seals, and like then, Daniel was the sole occupant of his thoughts.

The bruises swollen into his side were nothing compared to the pain he felt being dragged out of that church. After spending two months worrying about Daniel, breaking out of that hospital, stealing a car, getting beaten, and hauling his ass across the desert just to get turned away at the door was nearly enough to break him.

He wanted to be angry with him, but Karen was quick to confirm what he already knew. None of this was Daniel’s fault, those cultists brainwashed him in the time he spent there. The Daniel he knew and loved wouldn’t have watched him get hauled away like that, and that only made him all the more determined to find a way back in there.

‘_I know you’re still in there, enano. I’m not giving up on you... no way_.’

His fingers pressed longingly against the cool tiled walls of the shower. He imagined they were threading through messy hair. Daniel was his reason for living, all that mattered. If it came down to it he knew he would die for him if he had to.

Just seeing him there in that church made his heart race in a way he never thought possible. He wondered if that was what it felt like to love somebody more than anyone else. Whether that was the love between two brothers, two lovers, both... 

‘_Daniel is mine... my family, all I’ve got left. I’m not going to lose him to some fucking cult._’

Determined and unwilling to waste any more time dwelling on thoughts, Sean turned off the water and reached for a towel.

* * *

He felt like he was drifting out of his own body. His mind was in a fog from the pain he was in, but he was finally at peace with himself for the first time in months. Even as blood swelled in his nostrils and ran down his upper lip he couldn’t help but smile.

_’we did it...’_

Daniel’s arms wrapped around his neck and he could feel him lean in close behind him. His presence was enough to rouse him from that fog and to lift a hand, intertwining his fingers with his as Karen drove them away from the burning church.

When she pulled off the freeway toward their motel, she placed a hand on his knee and smiled sympathetically toward Daniel. He could see her lips moving and heard garbled hums to leave her lips - but he could hardly make sense of them. 

All he wanted to do was close his eyes, but she told him to stay awake until she could assess his injuries and rule out a concussion. 

‘_Don’t worry, Karen... I’ve survived worse than this..._’ He thought, giving the small fingers a gentle squeeze. Before he knew it they were pulling into the motel and Daniel and Karen were helping him inside.

“Looks like you should make it, you’ve got one tough big brother.” Karen said softly to Daniel. She went on to offer Daniel a reassuring smile, he was visibly worried and perched against his side, uncharacteristically silent ever since they left Haven Point.

Daniel wound up crying the whole rest of the evening, apologizing over and over for his eye and everything else that followed. It took him hours to assure him that now that they were together again that nothing else mattered. They both made it through their own personal hell and came out the other side, maybe different, but as survivors.

Into the night their conversations continued on in quiet whispers while Karen slept. It took her forever to fall back asleep after his and Daniel's romp in the bathroom, and ultimately, he nearly fell asleep too before Daniel whispered into his ear.

“Sean?”

Sean opened his weary eyes with some reluctance. They were leaving at six in the morning and at this rate he wasn’t going to get any sleep at all. Despite himself, Sean exhaled and turned to face Daniel.

“What is it, little cub?”

There was a pregnant pause before Daniel began to relay in a whisper what was on his mind.

“I-I... I just want you to know... I’ll never let anyone come between us again. I know you feel like you have to protect me since you're older, but who’s protecting you? I can protect you too, you know?”

Sean smiled softly. “That’s how it’s supposed to be, enano, I’m your big brother... It's my job.”

Daniel shifted and placed a hand on his arm in the dark. His brow worried and he leaned in closer. “Stop it... things are different now.” His eyes shifted away, glinting in the moonlight before meeting his own again. “I thought I lost you once... I never want to go through that again.” 

Sean raised his arm limply, scooping back Daniel’s choppy bangs with rough fingers. “Neither do I, little cub... nothing will tear us apart... ever again.” He craned his neck and placed a softly kiss to his forehead.

Daniel curled in closer to his chest, prompting Sean to wrap his arms around him and hold him closer. They both made it through hell and back to be with one another again. Now all he and Daniel had to do was make it the rest of the way.

‘_Puerto Lobos.._.’

The words slipped off his lips as he began to fall asleep. They were so close... But first he needed to recover.

* * *

Fear overtook Daniel when he awoke some hours. Not because of the strange room he hardly recognized, but over the fact that neither his mom nor Sean were in here with him. No sooner did he confirm this did he sit upright, searching in the near blackness of the room. From what he could see, the sun would be rising soon.

Rain, or what sounded like rain was the first indication that he wasn’t as alone as he first assumed, and slowly he began to relax. A brilliant golden light was leaking out from underneath the door to the bathroom, somebody within taking an early morning shower. At first he thought it was Sean, but a muffled cough penetrated the silence, coming from just beyond the front door.

Daniel slowly slipped out of bed and crept toward it, listening only to be met with more silence which prompted him to crack it open and peer outside into the dim blue world. Sean was seated in one of the deck chairs, hood up, and a plume of smoke rising from his right hand. Before he had a chance to say anything, Sean turned and spoke quietly.

”I can’t sleep either... Karen’s up, I was gonna wake you after this.” He said in that soft voice of his.

”Still feel on edge, like it isn’t really over.” Daniel commented, trying not to think too deeply on all the fleeting thoughts he had about Lisbeth and Haven Point. He couldn’t control the the nightmares that followed, but he didn’t need to give those any fuel by dwelling on them while awake.

Sean nodded in understanding, giving the spare chair a nudge as if to tell him to come join him. “I think it’ll be easier to sleep once we get outta here, I want to put as many miles between us and here as we can.” Sean whispered, looking off toward the dying plume that the burning church left behind.

Daniel considered the chair on offer for a moment then accepted, sheepishly easing himself onto the cold plastic while Sean watched him, visibly bewildered by him.

”Why’re you sitting like that dude? You’re always slouching.” Sean pointed out, taking a long drag from his cig, the cherry illuminating in the blue darkness.

Daniel froze then looked away, wounded. Lisbeth spent two weeks reminding him to sit straight, to improve his posture and that to slouch made him look like he had no manners. “Sorry...” He whispered, attempting to slouch. Only now, it felt just as unnatural to him as sitting up straight did, and that scared him more than waking up in that room alone.

”No need to be sorry, it’s just.. different I guess.” Sean said, almost looking away too for lack of knowing how to respond. After moments of silence grew between them, Sean snubbed out how cigarette and turned his chair towards his, a hand falling on his knee.

”Listen... It’s not gonna be easy, it won’t happen all at once, you know? I promise though, by the time your hair grows out again you’ll feel better, okay?” Sean offered, smiling even despite how much it probably hurt his bruised face to.

Daniel stared long and hard at the hand and then nodded somberly. “I hope so, Sean... I just want everything to be okay again, like it was before everything happened.” Daniel said, looking in to the only eye Sean had left. Two or one, the effect they had on him remained the same.

”It won’t be... It’ll be even better. I’ll never lie to you, or keep anything from you ever again, I promise.” Sean whispered, shifting that hand from his knee to Daniel’s shoulder, prompting Daniel to do the same to Sean’s. They each have each other a warm shake.

”Hey enano, look.” Sean whispered, pointing off to something in the distance. Behind the plume of smoke at the church was the brilliant orange glow of the rising sun. 

Daniel gazed at it in exhaustion, and for the first time in a long time managed to smile a genuine smile. Not one that was forced or expected, like what he was instructed to do for crowds of people who cared more about what he could do rather than him himself.

”I wanna show you something else too.” Sean continued, whispering now as he pulled at the sleeve of his hoodie.

Daniel stooped low, bewildered until he saw dark ink laden in his brother’s skin. The tattoo, he’d forgotten all about it. His eyes studied the image in both surprise and guilt, it wasn’t Cassidy after all.

”A wolf...” Daniel whispered, even more quietly than Sean did.

”Yeah, it reminds me of you. What do you think?” He asked, twisting his forearm while Daniel studied it. It was all wobbly, definitely looked like something he might draw for Sean.

He could feel a familiar ache settle in his chest. It was more than welcome, with it he started to feel more like himself than he had felt in weeks. He thought he might cry.

“I love it, now I just need one.”

Sean laughed. “Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

His hand slipped and clasped Sean’s, a squeeze offered to it which was returned more gently. Inside he heard the sound of the shower come to a stop and soon they’d be leaving this place behind.

_’We’ll be okay...’_


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this has been a long time coming and I apologize. I kept trying to do this chapter and every time I got a good ways through found that I didn't really like the way it turned out. I really didn't want to release it until I was happy with it, and the good news is that I finally am! Before you start reading I'd like to point out that over the last few months I've been adding, fixing, and changing very minor things in previous chapters to make the entire story more cohesive and overall much better. So if you haven't read the previous chapters in the last month I highly encourage you to reread them before this final one.
> 
> Lastly, I want to thank everyone who's been commenting and sending me messages about the story. They're truly a joy and I hope that the final chapter doesn't disappoint any of you. Thank you so much for reading, and please check out the notes after the story for additional comments on the chapter and as to what comes next.

**The Wolf Brothers**

**BetweenNightmares**

Sean bucked his both hips hard and fast in an effort to bring about that final pleasure. Below him was the rough texture of cool sand over mountainous rock, it chafed against his back with every thrust. Above him was the warmth of his baby brother, holding onto his hands desperately while he rode him.

In those moments he saw stars, stars beyond what were shooting through the night sky and much more intense and blinding. They were also more real than the ones they made their desperate wishes upon. These stars were entirely their own, and from the way Daniel screwed his eyes closed Sean knew he was seeing them too.

‘_Fuck..._’ He thought, squeezing Daniel’s hands just as hard as Daniel was around his cock, bringing him to that final release. When it arrived it took all he had not to cry out, to instead bite his lip while explosions of white overtook his senses.

Only a painful cry from Daniel managed to return him from those stars and to slowly bring everything back into focus. Two smaller hands were yanked swiftly from his own and held, the digits beat red whilst his own were pale from how hard they had gripped the smaller.

Sean exhaled and muttered out a couple of apologies, recovering himself whilst Daniel muttered back to him. Cum still leaked from his thighs as he crawled off from him and took his usual place of being cooped up against his side, causing Sean to drape an arm around him.

Silence followed as he stared up at the stars, reflecting on how the night had gone over. He came here with the intention of setting their relationship straight, to be brothers and that was all no matter how much it broke his heart. Though when he saw that look in Daniel’s eyes, worse with every word he tried, he couldn’t go through with it... to go back on their love for one another and to be brothers, to have a serious talk with Daniel about right from wrong and who he wanted to be. Karen's words echoed in the back of his mind, urging him that the window to have this conversation was quickly coming to a close...-

“Sean?” A higher voice came drifting in from his side. Daniel was propped up on an elbow and staring deeply into his eyes. Sean noted them then glanced back up toward the sky, hoping he hadn’t gleaned the thoughts being poured over behind them.

“Is everything okay? Did I... do something wrong?” He asked, and in that question Sean felt his heart crack under the weight of more guilt being added to the vast reserves of it already there. All he could manage was a simple and face value response that even he didn’t believe.

“Everything’s fine, enano.” He lied, lied even though he promised wholeheartedly he never would again, that neither of them would. Desperate to enjoy this one last night, Sean gave his shoulder a firm squeeze and shake. “It’s fine. I promise. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

‘_Just me, and I can’t do anything to make it right... I've fucked up and failed so many times... Karen’s right, you’re changing enano... I feel like I’m failing you.’_

Daniel looked at him for a few moments longer before eventually easing back onto the red earth and tucked against Sean's side, eyes too now focused on the stars in the sky above them. It was beautiful, distracting, enough to make him forget about the trials he knew lay ahead. As long as he could give his brother one last night, he could survive the next - whatever it would bring.

"Do you think you could tell me the story of the wolf brothers again?" Daniel asked.

Sean smiled weakly up at the sky and nodded. "Yeah... of course I can, little cub." 

They laid together under the night sky for another hour or so following the story, not speaking much as more stars dashed across the black expanse and they made even more wishes, or just the same ones on repeat in the hopes it’d help them to come true even more.

The older wolf desperately wanted to believe they would make it to Puerto Lobos one day, together and safely, but he knew it was going to be anything but easy. He knew it was probably going to take everything they had, that more people might get hurt along the way. How many more people stood between him and his brother's freedom, how many more people had to get hurt, what would be the final cost? Images of Lisbeth Fischer floating in the air by an invisible hand around her neck resurfaced in his mind.

Sean knew that over the course of their journey Daniel was changing for the worse. Becoming more cold, violent, something they often tried to pass off as just him being stronger - growing up in the face of the new reality they were in. As much as he wanted to make it to Puerto Lobos; he didn't want to do it at the cost of his brother's innocence, to put him in a place where he had to make an impossible choice. He already had to do it back in that church. Very night the nightmares from that time came, and every day Sean could see the battle going on within his brother to decide who he wanted to be. He wanted to do whatever he could not to add to that struggle, even if it meant he had to pull the trigger himself.

'_You don't deserve all this shit, enano... I'm sorry_.'

By midnight they were both asleep, Daniel's arm draped across his chest while Sean held onto him, their blanket pulled over them sometime in the space between being awake and being asleep. It was their last night of rest, real night, before their journey’s end.

* * *

The next night was harder to enjoy knowing it would be their last one in Away. Daniel knew they wouldn’t stay forever, but it frustrated him how it always seemed like they never got any warning before they had to move on. Sean told him this would be the last time, once they made it to Mexico they would be home free. There would be no more running and no more goodbyes, they would finally be free to plant some roots and to start building a new life together. Could that be true? Would the cops really give up on them after the crossed the border? They chased them from the far north to the absolute south of the country. Daniel found it hard to believe they would, he wanted to though.

He couldn't help but feel a certain degree of anger toward the police. Up until now they were some omniscient threat that always remained one step behind them throughout their journey, but now it felt like they were finally catching up. Why couldn’t they just let them go already?

Was it because of the policeman who died back in Seattle? Or was it because of their disappearance and the explosion they still couldn’t explain. He tried not to think about those things knowing the answer didn’t really matter anymore. What mattered was getting beyond their reach, to Puerto Lobos. The idea of mexico was never that appealing to him, never really what he wanted. Sean made it seem like it would be great growing up where their dad did, but the truth was there were reasons why he left in the first place. Even if Daniel wasn't quite sure what those reasons were, he wasn't blind to them, and as if that wasn't enough only Sean knew Spanish. When he brought these things up it always ended the same way, with Sean going from how great it would be to telling him that they didn't have a choice anyway...

Didn't they?

"You still awake?" A voice whispered to him in the dark, prompting Daniel to open his eyes and meet Sean’s. It was well into the night now and they were alone in Karen’s RV. He vaguely remembered her having gone over to David’s to work on tomorrow’s plans. Before they tucked into bed he remembered seeing the yellowy glow of David's RV, and two silhouettes moving about inside.

“Can’t sleep... thinking too much.” Daniel whispered back, their bodies curled toward each other underneath the blanket drawn over them. It was soft, by now familiar, reminding him so much of the nights spent back in Beaver Creek. Thinking back to those nights made him feel strange inside, strange in that they felt like memories belonging to somebody else entirely - a version of himself that only remained in trace amounts.

“Want to talk about it?” Sean asked. Even though Daniel could hardly see his face, he imagined his brows furrowing like they always did. He was sure Sean in turn was also imagining how tired he looked and how sad he probably did too because he soon felt a hand shift beneath the covers and come to rest on his shoulder.

“I hate this... I hate that everyone’s in danger because of us, how we have to run again... I’m just so sick of this.” He knew he complained about this every time they were uprooted, and he felt annoying and whiny for it, but he knew it was exactly how Sean felt too - even if he was never the one that brought it up.

“I know...” Sean whispered, Daniel knowing there was more he wished to say in the way he said what little he managed. Lately he seemed to know a lot of things Sean meant to say, their bond was that strong. They could lay together for hours in silence and in that silence say a thousand different things. They didn’t need words to talk anymore. It was as though they both walked out of that burning church healed of all the pain, anger, and sadness that once festered there between them. They both faced trials and came out stronger together, their bond reaffirmed.

After a time, Daniel curled inward and rested his forehead against his brother’s. Dark brown reflections shone back at him in the moonlight, they held a strange emotion he couldn’t quite read. Maybe it was the darkness, or maybe it was that he’d never seen it before.

“Are you scared?” He asked.

There was a moment of hesitation before Sean nodded. “A little... I won’t lie and say I’m not, this isn’t going to be easy, enano, you know that.” Sean explained. “We’ve come this far, and we’re so close... this will be the hardest part.” He offered a ghost of a smile, one that Daniel accepted readily.

“Yeah...” Daniel agreed, leaning forward enough to brush his lips against Sean’s. Normally Sean was prone to pull away from him in places that he deemed risky, but he was pleased to find that not only did Sean failed to meet his expectations, he instead returned the kiss deeply. The hand over his shoulder raised to cup his cheek and hold him in place while lips fastened over his own.

The larger ones molded perfectly with his smaller ones, claiming them several times over until they both had break for air, their chests rising and falling in stiff heaves. “One good thing about Puerto  
Lobos... this, we’ll be able to have this.” Sean said longingly, rolling onto his back.

Daniel was quick to fill the space between his side and arm, the arm which expected the motion and pulled him all the more close. Neither of them cared if Karen were to return right now to catch them. At this point there was nothing left to lose, and given what they were up against laying together like this was hardly a concern, it was comforting. At least that's what Daniel figured as Sean thumbed his arm in silence.

He wasn't sure what was going to happen after they moved out tomorrow, couldn't know, and that uncertainty was something he learned to live with after nearly a year of living that way. In that uncertainty the only thing that remained clear was his feelings for Sean and Sean's feelings for him. No matter what it took he'd do anything to keep him safe, proved that in the way he faced Lisbeth back in Haven Point. He hoped he could do the same for Sean, would gladly if it came down to it. Sean belonged to him, and he belonged to Sean. Nobody was ever going to keep them apart or hurt either one of them ever again.

"Do you think Dad is watching over us, do you think he'd say we're doing the right thing?" Daniel asked after a time. He thought about their dad just as often as he used to think about their mom. Upon losing one he gained the other, it used to tear at him inside that he never got to have both like Sean did. Then in looking at the resentment Sean tried to hide for their mom he realized he himself was the lucky one, you can't rightly miss what you've never known.

"You know he is..." Sean whispered, eyes hurt to see the doubt in his. "Dad always used to say that family is the most important thing we have. Family take care of each other, we're all we have left. We didn't choose any of this, going to Mexico is the only choice we have now." Sean looked off out the window. "Dad would understand, he'd want us to be safe and together... and we will be once we get there."

Daniel wanted to believe that, believe it more than anything else.

'_I can tell when you're lying..._'

"I love you, Sean..." Whispered Daniel, hoping the worry around his heart didn't betray him through his voice.

"I love you too, enano..."

With a newfound resolve about tomorrow, Daniel closed his eyes tight and found himself finally able to sleep.

* * *

"Hurry, Sean! Drive!" Daniel yelled in alarm, pulling the strap of his seat belt across his body.

In what felt like minutes, but was mere seconds Sean was turning the key in the ignition of the truck and they were quickly speeding off down the road from El Ray police station. From the passenger side Daniel spotted a green sign erected off the side of the road reading that they were approximately 3500 ft from the Mexico point of entry.

"Phew..." Daniel exhaled, body still shaking from the ordeal their escape turned out to be. He looked far back over his shoulder at the open road behind them. "No-nobody is chasing us..." Daniel relayed to Sean. Was there anyone left at the station who could chase them? He wanted to believe they gave up after seeing what he could do, but deep down he knew they'd probably only hunt them down harder for it.

Sean glanced over quickly then returned to the road ahead of him, focused. "Not yet..."

No sooner did Sean say that did the radio on the dash begin to crackle and pop with static, an alarming voice broadcasting between them.

_Emergency!_

_This is an all points bulletin for every unit in the area..._

_Multiple prisoners, two adults and two teenagers, have escaped from the El Rey police station.  
_

_They are considered armed and dangerous._

_Repeat...-_

Sean reached forward and turned the knob on the radio, silencing the voice. Daniel glanced over at him, expecting him to say something but was met only with the sound of their truck continuing on along the road. Daniel averted his eyes back down to his lap, traces of debris from the station still dusting the surface of his shorts. In the back of his mind he saw the faces of the officers he threw against the walls. The sound their bodies made as they broke against them.

"Are we still going to Mexico?" He asked, for the first time feeling scared and unsure. Everything seemed so certain until he was shot, now it felt like they were on borrowed time and anything could happen.

"Yeah..." Sean said in a single breath, still not meeting his eyes until he dared risk offering him a single acknowledgment. "We got nowhere else to go..." His eyes returned to the road again, causing Daniel to eventually look back at his lap and then out the window. He wasn't absorbing anything he was seeing anymore, all he saw was uncertainty - his mind trying to work out what was going to happen next. He wanted Sean to tell him that everything was going to be okay again, that they'd make it without anymore hitches, but after being shot in the shoulder that would probably amount to just one more lie between them.

Minutes passed until something large and yellow caught his attention, pulling him back from his thoughts with every word scrawled across the road sign they were passing. It was the 4th of July. How did he lose track of the days, when did things like holidays stop mattering anymore, was it after Christmas? It hurt to think about how different today compared to last year.

"Sean, it's the 4th of July..." He glanced over, trying to bring something else into the truck that didn't involve cops or Mexico. "Our... first one without Dad..."

Sean's fixation on the road broke after a moment, becoming lost in thought like he was this whole drive. "You're right..." 

His heart began to pick up pace at the sight of his brother, seeing how in only a few words he managed to lose that strong sense of determination and begin to break. Daniel immediately felt like he said the wrong thing and rose slightly in his seat. "Remember how, he was so into fireworks every year..." He offered a warm and cheery smile, trying to spin the fact of the matter into a memory of the happier times. Sean was holding onto the wheel, stern, vacant, and trying not to budge from the hardened expression he was braving. "He always made us go too early so we could get a good spot."

Sean chuffed a bit, offering a half-smile and another glance from the road. "I know... He was so corny..." He nodded a bit, and Daniel could see a trace of tears in his eyes. "He said he was proud to live in this country." They offered each other weak smiles as the tears came, running down their faces as a result of being too strong for too long. Sean shifted in his seat and focused again on the road, and Daniel began to do the same out the passenger window, more tears coming with every step closer they came to the border.

'_We're so close... Please Sean, please hold on. Be strong, like you always tell me to be.._.' 

Sean pushed him the whole journey, and now it was his turn to push him. They were so close to Mexico, to being safe together in the land where their dad grew up. They would be able to start building a new life for themselves. If somebody told him to imagine where they'd be a year after this journey began Daniel definitely wouldn't have been able to imagine this as the answer. It seemed impossible how that they made it this far after everything that happened. Though they were a mere mile from the border it seemed even more impossible that they'd make it through and live happily ever after like Sean told him they would.

* * *

Sean hadn’t said more than two words since leaving the police station. He wanted to focus on getting them across the border, they could deal with everything else after they were safe.

Daniel reacted to their situation in the opposite way. From the moment they wheeled away from their captors his talking hadn’t stopped. Maybe it was an attempt to get him to say something, tell him it was going to be okay like he did the night before - to lie because right now he wasn’t sure.

All he did know was that there was no more talking their way out of this nightmare. 

Up until now he had been banking on the fact that they could always turn around. They could surrender if they absolutely had to. It was the safety net of being innocent even after running for so long, but now they had blood on their hands and that net was long gone.

That couldn’t have became more clear than when they pulled up toward the gate and the cops were already there waiting for them, guns drawn.

"Shit"

He pulled the car up to a safe distance and then pressed his foot on the break. He could feel his heart rate begin to elevate and for Daniel to start moving in the seat beside him.

"Sean... we can't let them get us.

"_Sean! Sean Diaz! It's over! Don't make this worse! Get out the car... SLOW... with your hands above your head_!" The voice that rang out through the megaphone was almost familiar. When he sought out the face it belonged to he felt his heart beat even faster and then drop low in his chest, it was Agent Flores.

"_Do EXACTLY what I say!_"

His hand did not move toward the door or to raise above his head. Instead, Sean turned the ignition off and then rested his head against the steering wheel. He didn't want to throw in the towel here, not after fighting so hard and coming all this way. Was all of it for nothing? He knew if they made the wrong choice here then those guns wouldn't just be for show.

"You know that day... In Seattle... The day Dad was shot?" Sean began, slumping back. "I think about it every day... and I would give anything to change what happened, but I can't. I'm sorry for my mistakes." 

Daniel shook his head, opening his mouth to try and cut him off but Sean continued anyway. "I tried my best, I swear..."

"Sean..." Daniel managed, voice breaking too upon the sound of police cars closing in behind them.

"I'm so proud of you, enano... just like Dad would be... we both learned a lot together... but you can make your own rules now. If we surrender, they will separate us, Daniel. And if that happens, promise me that you will always do the right thing okay? Don't waste your power... Be strong, like you already are."

"Don't say that! Let's just get outta here!" Daniel pleaded, Sean moved in quick to reassure him with a hand over the back of his neck.

"_Get out! Please! Don't make any more mistakes_!" Flores urged, prompting Sean to look her way flat, then back to Daniel as tears began to form in both of their eyes.

"Whatever happens always remember that you're Daniel Diaz."

"_Sean! You know this isn't a trap_!" The voice continued, but both of them were growing oblivious to it.

"I promise, Sean..."

"_You can trust me! Please, get out of the car! Come on! There's no way out! This is your last warning!_

_”So... how does the story of the wolf brothers end?”_

Sean reached for the steering wheel, and Daniel leaned back in his seat. In that moment that seemed to last for an eternity he finally understood what Daniel already knew, nothing and nobody else mattered now. The world turned their back on them the moment their dad was killed. To survive, he had to accept that he needed to turn his back on the world. Surrendering was no longer and option, not after the police station and not after he promised Daniel to stay by his side.

Looking over at Daniel he also understood in that hardened expression that he was no longer the little wolf he wanted him to be. He was a superwolf, and all he needed to do was let him be one.

"They make it to the other side. Be careful."

"Listen up! Step out of the car! NOW!"

Daniel nodded his head and opened his side of the car, hopping out and walking himself out in front of it. Well beyond him Sean could see Flores' face break with relief. "You're safe, Sean! Just get out of the car, like your brother!" She called, prompting several armed policemen to start jogging out toward the car and for Daniel to look back at him.

_’We are safe...’_

From the car Sean braced the steering wheel and nodded to him. Without missing a beat Daniel turned and sent the nearest cop hurtling through the air with the blow of his arm. The officer a short way behind him followed suit causing the muster at the gate to take aim amidst a collection of shouts.

"What the fuck?! FUCK- SHOOT! SHOOT! OPEN FIRE!"

He should have been worried, afraid for his brother but all he felt was how proud he was of him. Not a single bullet managed to pass the barrier Daniel erected before him. Every bullet that connected with it bounced off like rain on glass. Daniel was a force of nature, the wrath of two brothers who would no longer run or suffer, but would fight.

"What the fuck... what are you doing?!" Flores pleaded, pulling out her own sidearm once Daniel began blasting away the barricade of cars and policemen using it for cover. A sick part of him enjoyed watching her get blown away and smashed against the rubble.

_‘You’re not.’_

Turning, Daniel flexed his body and sent the flanking cruisers high into the air. When they landed in a metallic explosion Sean felt and heard shards of glass rain down over the car. In a final burst to expel all of the energy he'd been building, Daniel unleashed a shockwave that decimated and blew apart the gate to Mexico, officially opening the way for them.

Sean leaned over, opening the door for Daniel as he slowly returned and climbed back in with a numb expression. 

"We can go now." His voice was quiet, confident and sounded as if nothing at all had happened.

"Yeah. Let's go home." He agreed, reaching for Daniel's hand which was already keen on meeting his right in the middle. Sean offered it a gentle squeeze, the metal of his handcuff clanking against the sunbaked interior, and continuing to hold onto it as they drove across the border.

'_Bienvenidos a Mexico_'

_To be continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading, writing the final section was really emotional for me and up until the last minute I had no idea what ending I was going to settle on. In a Wild, Wild World really seemed to imply redemption in my opinion and that was the ending I got during my first playthrough episode 5. Initially that's what I went with but now I've gone back and chosen Blood Brothers. I wasn't happy with anything else.
> 
> With that said, I was very close to doing Lone Wolf because that also would have fit this particular story, but even I'm not that sadistic. Overall I'm really pleased with how the story ended and hope you all are as well. 
> 
> I'm also planning on doing a sequel if you can believe it. 
> 
> To close, I want to again thank you all for reading and for all your kind messages and comments, and to NotEasilyOffended for your inspiring fiction.


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